


Heroes Who Save And/Or Kill

by Kujourchi



Series: Miraculous/Eater [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Soul Eater
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Eater couple are more intimate but not a couple, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, More attention to Miraculous Couple although Eater couple is integrated, POV Third Person, Partners to Lovers, Plot, Post-Canon, Relationship Discussions, both of miraculous and eater people get a POV portion!, miraculous couple more of an innocent relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:50:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7770832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kujourchi/pseuds/Kujourchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How is it that Akuma victims can be saved when kishins must be killed? Both fighting violence and hate, the two crime fighting partners warily regard each other.</p>
<p>"Two souls were sitting on the steel beams of the tower, and Maka took in their detail... Both the souls had Lines of Sanzu similar to how Asura had them, not as how Death had or how Kid now has them."<br/>"She met Chat at the tower, and that’s also where her day went from fine to ‘what the fuck’.<br/>There was a flying girl in a school uniform. She was yelling at them."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Eater Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Soul Eater/Miraculous Ladybug AU! Their jobs are so similar with a few key differences, I thought it would fun to discover how they’d act if they met.  
> This fic is geared mainly towards people who have an understanding of both universes, although I'm sure you could wiki you're way through it if you want~

Soul weaved past a roundabout on his motorcycle. He passed the Arc de Triomphe without glancing as the mad drivers were literally threatening their lives with careless driving. His teeth clenched and his usual sleepy eyes glared at the traffic.

Maka held on tightly to Soul’s jacket. Her chin rested on his back and she gazed up in wonder at the sight. In the dark, the memorial was lit up and its elaborate details were set in a sharp contrast from the shadows they created. She’d read the history of the place, as well as a couple fictious books that took place here. She took a deep breathe, the smell of leather and wind refreshing. The past as well as the romance that was thought up to happen on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees caused the air to have an innocent magical sparkle.

That was until Soul had to sharply break to avoid colliding with a crash that happened between the two small cars in front of them. It wasn’t too bad, looked like the grey mini cooper had just scraped off the others rear-view mirror, but the drivers had slammed the breaks at the sharp noise as well as the impact.

Soul’s eyes were panicked as he thought what could happen to his bike if they stayed on the busy street, and baring his teeth at the idea, he swerved out from behind the cars (almost causing another accident to be honest) and took the next exit.

“Soul you took the wrong turn, it was two streets from this one.”

“Consider it taking the scenic route.”

“Literally the Arc de Triopmhe is behind us, compared to that is this really scenic?”

Soul rolled his eyes. The busy streets were lined with old buildings and little cafes with Parisians sitting outside, drinking wine and people watching. It looked like a watercolor painting. It was fucking beautiful.

After taking a couple turns to make up for his hasty retreat from the roundabout, they made it to the hotel Death’s assistant had arranged for them. Soul dropped Maka off at the front and went to search for a parking space. Finding one down the cobbled street, he opened up a compartment that held a large backpack with both their stuff, and lugged it behind him.

When he got back to the hotel, Maka was already holding their key and thankfully she took the burden off him by easily throwing the bag over her shoulder. There was such obvious differences between miesters and weapons, and Soul would be embarrassed at his loss of cool points if Maka wasn’t just such a boss ass bitch. And that bag _was_ heavy.

They had two twin beds in their room and fell into them. Without really caring if the bed was soft or not, Soul was practically unconscious within the second. Maka’s voice kept him up.

“Soul we gotta start looking for the kishin. And we haven’t really eaten. And the city’s so pretty.”

“Ughhhh”

“I know.”

“Noooo”

“Right?”

There’s a beat of silence. Then they both got up from the bed, washed up in the sink standing side by side, and changed.

They’d been partners for eight years already. Soul had become a death scythe two years ago -- although Kid had separated them for about half a year -- they were reunited once Chrona-covering-the-moon consequences settled. Soul had been positioned in Russia to make up for the chaos that hadn’t been calmed after the death scythe there was killed, and Maka was responsible for helping Kid keep up with the communication and peace between the witches.

Now they were in France to deal with a couple kishins that had sprung up there. They usually sent out higher ranking students to deal with it, but Maka guessed Kid wanted to give them a small vacation.

 

For dinner, Soul dragged them to a M*Donalds. Maka’s eyes gazed in hope at a French bakery, or a French restaurant, or at anyplace that was French and nice. Soul was tired and hungry and held onto her arm to pull her into the fast food joint after him. Maka took a seat at the window, to at least be able to look and think about the nice places around them. Soul brought the tray and sat in in front of her.

The food smelled delicious, and the fries were perfect. No matter where they went, this place seemed to consistently deliver the same unhealthy grease fest. In between bites of the burger, Maka spoke “So we think the kishins might be lurking around the Hotel Matignon, where the prime minister of France lives. You’d think that means this is a more pressing case, but they’ve only attacked a handful of people that didn’t even have any relation to the government. Plus, no one’s died yet, so everyone’s treating it like it’s no big deal.”

Soul tried to speak but ended up spitting some food at Maka’s face instead. She grimaced and he gave her a napkin before swallowing and saying “Plus France has had it up to here with magical activity lately, so that’s probably some of it.”

 

They scarfed down some more food, and got up to finish their strawberry milkshakes as they walked. Crossing the Siene River with the Eiffel Tower in sight, Maka thought she saw something in the tower.

“Soul, looks like some kids are up there being idiots,” Maka pointed up at the landmark.

“I can’t see anything? Are you using soul perception? The lights are pretty bright on this thing.”

At the prompting, Maka focused her eyes and let everything physical swim slightly out of focus. Everyone’s souls were suddenly bright and clear, floating around the park as well as collections of souls going up and down the elevators to the café at the top of the tower. Two souls were sitting on the steel beams of the tower, and Maka took in their detail. One soul was bright pink, but had a red glow to it. The other was grey, with a green glow. That in itself was strange, but both the souls had Lines of Sanzu similar to how Asura had them, not as how Death had or how Kid now has them.

“Shit.”

 

“Soul transform”

Soul’s eyes widened but he changed to his scythe form without asking. The small resonance that occurred simply from being held by Maka told him she was tense and scared. There hadn’t been much reason to be this stressed in a long time.

Maka used Soul to fly up to the two souls but kept her distance to them, staying afloat in the air.

“Who are you?” She yelled, “What are you here for?”


	2. Miraculous/Eater Chapter 2

For Marinette, the day had been going relatively well. She, Alya, Adrien, and Nino had gotten together to play video games during midday that Saturday. They spent a lazy day eating snacks and joking around.

She only owned two controllers and they were taking turns playing. Nino and Alya were currently trying to kick each other to distract the other from successfully finishing an ultimate attack. Alya was laughing, but when Nino dropped his head in her lap she froze a little. With a whoop Nino finished her character off, and turned to look at her. She blushed and looked away, but didn’t push his head off her lap.

Marinette could guess that they had something going on. They hadn’t mentioned anything to her, which she was slightly put off by. She hoped they’d tell her when they were ready to.

Adrien was laughing at them too. He reached for a snack, but when his hand didn’t reach anything he looked over at the tray with a small pout on his face. Marinette could read ‘but I only had one’ from his expression and stifled a giggle cause he’d actually already had three.

Since she knew that Alya and Nino were a thing, the thought that this was like being on a double date with Adrien made her giddy. She untucked her feet from under her, and stood from where she sat with Adrien on the couch.

“Wait here!” She said brightly, and tripped over Nino who was still laying in Alya’s lap to get downstairs.

 

While tonging some chocolate croissants on a plate, she noticed the news station announcing a new Akuma.

Today’s Akuma was a women who now went by the name of Arachne, and looked like a huge black widow spider. She was going around trapping people in webs, screeching that everyone had to slow down their busy lifestyle, that she was overworked by all these busybodies.

Marinette shivered. Spiders ate bugs like her.

Still, she raced upstairs and said that they had run out of snacks and needed to go out to get more. She didn’t slow down to hear Alya question, “But you live above a bakery?” and raced out to find somewhere Tikki could transform her.

 

She couldn’t find a sign of the Akuma on her roof, so she went up to the Eiffel Tower for an elevated view. That’s where she met Chat, and that’s also where her day went from fine to _‘what the fuck’_.

There was a flying girl in a school uniform. She was yelling at them.

Chat didn’t pause and stepped in front of her in a defensive stance. She didn’t understand why at first, but after getting over some of the surprise she noticed that the girl was tense: waves of fear and aggression emanated from her.

When Ladybug seemed to grasp the situation, she moved to the side to stand with Chat.

“We’re the superheroes of Paris; protecting it from Akuma attacks and restoring the victims and city back to the way it was before.” Her voice rang out strong.

“You’re Gods? Witchs? What are Akumas?” The flying girl asked, still on guard.

“You’re the one on the broom witch, who are you?” Chat interrupted. They weren’t keen on having to explain the God part.

“Maka Albarn of the DWMA academy with Soul the Death Scythe. You haven’t answered, what are you?”

“You named your broom?” Chat asked with a snicker.

“I’m a fucking Death Scythe you asshat, Maka let me at ‘em, land on the beam” The broom raged from between Maka’s legs.

She did land, but kept a strong hold on her weapon, letting him transfer to his scythe mode.

Ladybug’s eyes glared at the scythe. From what they’ve seen before, chances are that Maka was Akumatized, and that the butterfly was trapped in the sword. One of the only things against her theory was what Akuma went by a name like _Maka_?

Ladybug didn’t back off as they neared, and Chat let his arms raise and planted his body to better his balance. He was getting ready to attack as soon as Ladybug gave the sign.

“Wait Chat, we know that Arachne is Akumatized, and we haven’t dealt with more than one butterfly since we started doing this. Chances are, they’re something else,” She said to Chat. Then she raised her voice “You must be new here, but have you heard of all the attacks on Paris? We’re the ones making sure everyone’s safe.”

Strangely the women froze at the mention of Arachne. Her green eyes flashed with panic.

Ladybug tried to continue with a calm demeanor “In fact, Maka, there’s an attack happening right now, that we need to stop. Let us deal with that first, please –“

“I don’t trust you. But just tell me, are you with or against Arachne.”

“Against!” Ladybug responded.

“Okay. Alright. Let’s deal with that first. You think you can really handle Arachne?”

Chat responded “Course, this is our daytime job Miss Witch.”

Maka jumped back on Soul, “I’m not a witch. Take me there then.”

Chat grabbed Ladybug by the waste, and they jumped from the Eiffel Tower. He extended his pole so that they’re pushed off away from the ground, towards the Notre Dame, where they’d seen a complex web moments before Maka had shown up swinging swords at them.

 

“Chat, once we get there, we’ll need to keep an eye on this Maka. She has a _Scythe_?” Ladybug said as they ran towards Notre Dame. “And if worse comes to worse, don’t use cataclysm on the scythe. We heard it talk, but I don’t think that was Papillion. It might be something supernatural we haven’t seen before.”

“Yes, my lady!” Chat said. Now they were running at full force able to easily stay at the same stride as Maka flew above them.

 

**POV Change**

 

**  
** Le Notre Dame is huge, located in the middle of the river Seine. It’s got two bridges that lead in and out, the island large enough to have many shops and roads.

Everything was at a standstill. Reality seemed unreal here; it was all caught up in a web. The cars were stuck on the bridge, tourists were stuck to their chairs or in place. Everything was eerily lit with yellowed lamps, and the ground was littered with webs as snow might lie.

Maka stayed in the air. She was confused and scared. They’d defeated Arachne ages ago, it’s what made Soul a Death Scythe. But was there perhaps a way she came back to life? Maybe there’s no way to kill her at all then.

Maka used Soul Perception to scan the island for Arachne, but she couldn’t find the soul she remembered, the one she was looking for. Instead, inside the church itself, she found a light blue soul that was engulfed in a dark membrane. There was a dark butterfly sitting on top of the soul.

“Where’s Arachne?” She yelled out to the heroes. They still hadn’t told her who they were besides describing themselves as heroes, and she couldn’t trust in that. Heroes for who, what were their ideals? Adding to that, they had the mark of Death Gods, which in her book meant nothing good if it wasn’t placed on Death or Kid.

They stood on the roof of a house that was unmarked by webs.

“I’m not sure,” The polka dotted one replied. “Maybe in the church? The webbing gets thicker there.”

“But I don’t see her soul there.”

“You can’t see souls Maka,” Chat Noir barked the way a cat would bark, “and Ladybug’s right, let’s check it out.”

Maka swallowed the frustration of dealing with these heroes. They ran off the roof to jump to another one. Their figures flickered in the lamp light, causing an eerie sight. Not that her own track to the church looked any less strange. Everything looked slightly more dangerous in the night when everyone on the ground was stuck to stillness.

She flew down to the church. It reminded her horribly of the day she met Chrona. The way Ragnorock would terribly split Chrona just to insult them. The madness. Soul was hurt back then too.

The doors were propped open, and Maka could see inside.  The one dressed as a Ladybug was hanging by a thread, or was it a yo-yo? It was so she wouldn’t touch the ground that would stick her down. The black cat had his pole wedged onto the wall, and was sitting on it.

By the altar stood Arachne. She looked different from Maka’s Arachne, and for that she was extremely grateful. She had six spider legs and a big butt, but her torso was human, covered in some kind of elastic outfit similar to the heroes. She held a clipboard, and behind her stuck to the ceiling was some kind of older man.

This must be a different magical monster then, and for sure the real Arachne was somewhere in Soul’s digestive system.

“Gabriel Agreste! We’ll get you out!” The black cat yelled, “The Akuma’s in her clipboard, Lady, we have to destroy it!”

“Got it!” The girl replied, “Just let me figure out how to stop us from getting stuck!”

The girl yelled “Lucky Charm!” and started doing a dance.

Maka thought this was all happening very slowly. Arachne kept shooting out webs, and the man looked pretty uncomfortable. Deciding to take things into her own hands, she flew over avoiding all the webs.

“Witch Hunter!” She yells.

“DON’T KILL HER.”

Maka hears the voice, but it doesn’t make sense. She continued down to sweep at the victim, but it goes right through Arachne. Maka stumbled, and although she managed to catch herself before she fell she’s still rooted into place by a web.

“Oh no.” Why did it go right through Arachne? Was something wrong with their resonance?

 

_Soul, can you hear me? Is this my fault?_

_Maka let the ‘heroes’ deal with this for now. I don’t think she’s a witch or a kishin, otherwise witch hunter would’ve worked._

 

At this time, the Ladybug throws her own rope net around Arachne. It restrains her arms and legs, and the black cat steals the clipboard away. He breaks it and the Ladybug does another dance as she yells “Miraculous Ladybug!”

A white butterfly escapes her yoyo.

“Bye bye petit Papillion.”

Maka could see a sparkle in Arachne’s soul, and the black cover lifted when the black butterfly was let out. Now it was a regular human soul.

She also focused on how the church was all cleaned up, looking the way it was meant to be. Somehow all the webs and wreckage disappeared.

Suddenly someone was shaking her.

“You can’t go around killing people! She’s just a regular human caught up in all of this! You’d be a murderer?” The black cat’s face was close to hers, he was shaking her and yelling at her face. Suddenly he’s lifted and thrown off.

“Kitty keep yours paws off. When someone’s a Kishin they’re beyond saving. If that makes us murderers, then at least we’re saving your asses who would be too scared to do what needs to be done.” Soul extended a hand towards Maka who took it, shaking slightly. Soul kept her close.

“Where the hell did you come from?” The cat whined.

Soul extended a scythe from his right hand. “I’m the fucking broom shithead.”

The cat looked shocked from his place on the ground. The ladybug helped him get up and gave Maka and Soul a hard look.

“We’ve been able to save every victim without any loss of life. Excuse us if we balk at the thought that you who claim to help stop an Akuma go ahead and try to kill the victim.” The Ladybug said.

 

The two parties were glaring at each other. Gabriel Agreste was helping Natalie up from the ground, and was staring at the four of them. Suddenly Ladybug’s earrings beeped, and she backed away without turning around.

“Chat,” She said, “Let’s get these civilians out of here.”

Chat grabbed Mr. Agreste while Ladybug grabbed Natalie. They got out of there, and were soon out of sight of Soul and Maka.


	3. Miraculous/Eater Chapter 3

Marinette released Tikki a corner away from her house. She held her kwami carefully.

“Tikki how are you feeling? I’ll get you some cookies in a moment.”

“I’m fine Marinette. Those people you met just now, I think they’re working for a different God. Remember how the moon turned black a couple years ago? I believe it’s due to those people.”

“But does that mean they’re bad people?”

“Marinette you have a good sense of right and wrong. You have to decide for yourself.”

“Thanks Tikki. I don’t, I _really_ don’t like them right now. The image of Maka about to cut down and kill Natalie was scary.”

Marinette hid Tikki in her bag, and made her way into her house through the bakery. She’d been gone about an hour. Taking the tray with chocolate croissants - as well as dropping a few in her purse - she went to her room. She opened her door and paused to see the room dark. Quietly closing the door, she looked at Alya and Nino who were snuggling, asleep on her chaise. Smiling, Marinette got an extra blanket from her cupboard and draped it over the two before going to bed.

 

Back at the hotel, Soul and Maka were laying in one bed.

The window was closed and the door locked. They were warm, even to the point of being uncomfortably so, but Soul didn’t let Maka out of his arms to even push the blankets off. Eventually she just kicked them off.

They didn’t often cuddle. Sometimes it would happen by accident, like after watching a movie.

Or sometimes the madness and ogre gave Soul nightmares. Whenever that happened, he tried to quiet the noise of his sobs, he didn’t want Maka to hear and give her any risk of catching the madness inside him. Or the risk that she’d worry. How she manages to find out he needs help Soul didn’t know, but if she was close enough to come comfort him she would. Once when he was in Russia he had had a panic attack, and Maka called without reason and was able to help him even from across the world.

Maka needed help sometimes too.

Today the all memories were too close to the surface. The time they met Chrona. The gash on Souls chest, the endless worry from the infection of madness it caused. The fear of being powerless after using witch hunter. The memory of Asura. Losing Chrona.

Right now she didn’t cry, but whenever she thought of something particularly unpleasant she’d jerk and hold on closer to Soul.

He murmured soft words, that it’s okay now or that they were safe in that moment.

They fell asleep holding onto each other.

 

The next morning, Maka woke up and continued to lay as she was. The room was still dark, and she hoped that maybe she had a bit more time to sleep in. Groggily opening her eyes, her left eye squished against Soul’s chest, she could see that the hotels curtains were drawn shut and that a little bit of light shown through.

Pausing she glanced at Soul, who had a stupid expression on his face while he slept, his hair haloed around his head.

Knowing the light outside meant she had to get up, she untangled her arms from Soul and stretched them above her head. She heard Soul wake up and glanced down, her sleep fuzzed brain saw his eyes following the sliver of skin on her stomach that showed.

Laying back down for a second she paused stupidly for a moment, trying to remember what she had to do. Right, bathroom. Getting off the bed, she looked over her shoulder to watch Soul sleepily stare after her go.

A sleepy Soul was really cute when he had nowhere to go. Being able to lay in was blissful for him, and seeing him so content made her unconsciously smile.

She brushed her teeth, and took her hair down from the messy pigtails. Maka brushed out her hair and washed her face. After her usual routine, she went back to the bedroom. Soul looked like he’d gone back to sleep, so she changed with her back to him. Usually nudity was no big deal between them, not to say it never was. One day she’d been lounging around their apartment in her underwear and she hadn’t expected the door to click, for him to come in. She was unsure whether she should just be chill or to jump up and put some clothes on. When Souls face went completely red at her unexpected nudity, Maka had blushed too and muttered an apology as she ran to her room to change.

Right now she decided to let Soul sleep, and went down to the main floor of the hotel to grab a complimentary breakfast. There wasn’t much offered, but Maka was able to grab a cup of tea (for her) a cup of coffee (for him) and some fruits and toast. She brought it back to their room, and Soul’s nose twitched at the smell, his hand raised for the coffee without even opening his eyes.

She handed it to him, and sat down by him on the right side of the bed. She decided to search up Ladybug on her phone, to see any news of yesterday. She’d found the Ladyblog when Soul’s hand reached up for her waist, and he tugged himself up to look over her shoulder. He was really warm, and Maka shifted closer to him, letting his chin rest on her left shoulder.

“Thanks for the coffee Maka.”

“No problem sleepy head. So Paris’ heroes are called Ladybug and Chat Noir? Looks like they’re pretty loved here.”

“Looks like it. And remember how all that wreckage just disappeared when Ladybug dealt with, what do they call it, Akuma’s?”

“I did until that cat started attacking me. It’s kind of amazing, wish we had a power like it.”

“Me too.”

They were both thinking more along the lines of all the lives they had lost in the process of fighting witches and kishins.

“Kishins are pretty similar to Akuma’s though,” Maka thought out loud. “They both center on evil. I wonder if the person making the Akuma’s is more similar to our version of a Kishin. But Akuma’s aren’t engulfed in their evil; it’s more of a screen that falls between them and the world.”

“That’s probably why they can be saved from the evil, unlike with kishins.”

“Mhmm”

Soul turned his head towards Maka, and suddenly she was hyperaware of his hand on her waist and the little distance between them. Blushing delicately she stood up, and went to sit on the bed opposite to Soul.

“Anyway,” She started. Soul wasn’t looking at her strangely for standing up, for which she was grateful. “Let’s get started on those kishins by the Hotel Matignon today. We should be able to finish them quickly, and then focus on those magical heroes.”


	4. Miraculous Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small warning that this chapter is pretty much as big as the last three combined... oops? I mean sure I could change it to be a similar size and give you more chapters, but i didn't, and I hope you guys don't mind :)

The next morning, Marinette woke up to scuffling noises. She blearily sat up, yawning so wide she accidentally let a frazzled strand of hair fall in her mouth. Spitting it out, she looked over to the sound.

Alya and Nino were frozen and staring at her. They looked like they were gathering all their things, and Marinette guessed they wanted to escape like burglars in the night. She looked at them reproachfully.

“Guys, I know you’ve got something going on. I’m not gonna pry, but how about you at least stay for breakfast.”

Alya’s face broke out in a nervous grin.

“Haha Marinette, we were just sleeping! It’s nothing! In fact, Nino’s a brother to me, right Nino?” Nino just looked uncomfortably at Alya.

“Alya I think it’s kinda obvious since we didn’t manage to sneak out before Marinette came back.”

“I, n-no! Nothing’s obvious or suspicious – in fact Marinette! Were’d you go after you left for ‘snacks’ when you live above a bakery? And Adrien left right after you did, saying he had a class when we knew he was free that Saturday. Huh? What you gonna say about that?”

“You caught me,” Marinette said casually, coming down from her bed loft. She undid he messy pigtails and started brushing out her hair, “I had a romantic rendezvous with Adrien. We went to a café and it was so wonderful. Then he proposed and we’re planning a June wedding.” She had started out speaking nonchalantly, but her eyes got progressively dreamier and she was now clutching her hairbrush to her heart as if it was a flower bouquet.

“Alright we get it, sorry for joking around Mari,” Nino said, rolling his eyes “seriously where’d you disappear to?”

“I meant to say my parents asked me to get some snacks for the bakery – not for you guys!” She lied.

 

**POV change**

That Sunday evening the clouds that had been lurking about finally let the rain within them fall. Adrien’s outdoor shoot was canceled, so he was hanging about in his room. The TV was on with the news - as he was prone to do since he became a super hero - and he was playing around on his phone. He had an idea to contact someone to hang out, but didn’t wanna bother them if they were already studying. However, Marinette was his French studies partner right now, so maybe he could try to work on that with her now.

But instead of getting to that just yet, he let his mind wander about the previous night. He could recall that girl swinging down on Natalie with a surprising amount of detail. Sure, he thought the scythe/human was wicked cool (although his own claws were purr-fect for himself), but it also seemed so dangerous. Like the scythe could cause some real damage. Especially the way that tiny girl could wield it.

He backtracked suddenly because if he knew anything of how this magic thing worked he knew that petite girls throwing things around was kinda no big deal; Ladybug had been merciless to him in that regard.

She’d held such a strong head yesterday, he was proud to have her as a part of his team. So charismatic, strong, beautiful. Adrien let himself fall against the back of the couch sighing wistfully. Then he remembered that it had really been his job to keep the witch Maka away from Natalie. It was good that they didn’t actually hurt anyone, but if they _had_ it would have been partly his fault from stopping them.

He glanced at the news that was broadcasting about _ten great vacation spots to visit this summer_ and decided that at this point they wouldn’t be telling him anything important.

He took out a small piece of Camembert cheese, and Plagg zoomed out of his makeshift bed (squealing “ _Cheese!”_ the whole way) where he’d been lazing around. 

“Plagg, I wanna go scope out that witch and the weapon we’d seen yesterday.” Surely they weren’t going around killing people, but he was curious as to what they would be doing. Suddenly he imagined the tiny girl sharpening the knife with two flat grind stones.

“They work for a different God, doesn’t really matter what they’re doing to me,” Plagg munched.

“They what?!” Adrien exclaimed, but Plagg didn’t respond. In fact, as soon as he was done eating he was gonna zip back to his bed but Adrien stopped him.

“Transform me!”

*music plays in the background, Adrien does a couple of poses while magically putting on a tight black leather suit nbd. Then there’s a magical wind and his hair gets messed up. *magic**

He climbs out the window, and pole vaults his way throughout the city of Paris. His plan was to sniff Maka out, as he’d gotten a good enough wiff when he’d scolded her for trying to murder Natalie.

Suddenly, he noticed Ladybug behind him from the corner of his eye. Grinning like a cheshire cat, he stopped and waited for her.

“You’re looking Meow-nificent today, My Lady!” He laughed when he saw her wince even while yo-yoing her way to him.

“Hey Chat. What’s up, is there an Akuma?”

“Did you miss me?!” Ladybug was now standing next to him on the roof, and he was able to bend down a little to meet her at eye level. She was about four inches shorter, and the small height difference made him grin.

“Yesterday was just so long ago!” Ladybug pretended to lightly swoon. Chat was ecstatic at the teasing atmosphere they had between the two of them.

“Well you saw me not a mewment too late! Actually, I wanted to check out that witch Maka we saw yesterday. They say curiosity killed that cat, and well, I’m tracking them down by their scent.”

“You can do that?”

“Yep! For example, you my Lady smell like the wonderful combination of baked goods and clean fabric. It’s such a sweet combination!”

“Ahh is that so kitty? Umm, anyway, might as well follow you to track them down then!”

Ladybug motioned for him to continue running, and followed a stride behind him when he did. He didn’t notice her face scrunch up in worry.

 

Chat closed his eyes, and concentrated on the smell of metal and coffee. Turning his head to the side, and trying to ignore the sweet smell of Ladybug beside him, he started running with his eyes closed. When he ran off the roof, his eyes quickly opened and he used his pole to project him onto the next building. Grinning at the exhilaration of the run, he sprinted with ladybug behind him until they reached the 7th arrondissement of Paris.

He could tell Maka and Soul were close by. He saw a brick wall around the Hotel Matignon and decided to land on it as an alley cat would. Ladybug stood next to him, and searched for their targets.

It was a spring day that lived up to the saying, April showers bring may flowers. Through the drizzle, Chat could see people were out and about, the streets that seemed empty in the winter bustled with people under umbrellas and in rain boots. Crowds of people were on the main street, but it was empty on the side street.

His lady had water droplets caught on her eyelashes, and her cheeks were flushed from the cold. She noticed him staring at her, so she looked at him with questioning eyes.

“What’s up, Chat?” Her smile lit up her face beautifully.

 

Suddenly his instinct sprung up. There was danger, behind them.

“Duck my lady!” He grabbed her hand and tugged hard, jumping down from the wall.

As she fell into his lap, two creatures lunged past them across the wall.

The creatures were grotesque. They didn’t resemble any type of look the supervillains went for.

It was a human skeleton, except for the flesh on its hands and feet. Standing on all fours, the back hunched as if its spine was too long for its body, moving in an off-settling fluid motion. The skeletal head was covered by a rusting iron helmet, and its hands were covered in chainmail. The feet were bare, bloody, and rotting.

Both of them were shocked and disgusted. Their first instinct to get away from the disgusting things, they jumped off each other back on the wall.

The skeletons had turned around, and were getting ready to jump again.

“YOUR SOULS.” They creaked.

Ladybug leaped out of the way, while he activated a cataclysm. His hands swiped at one of them, and it disintegrated. But the other jumped on him, and threw him on the ground with force. He grunted, disoriented. Suddenly the masked skeleton was in his face. He screamed.

“GET OFF.” Said another voice, and its head turned. There stood Maka, with a silver scythe glinting in the sun.

Chat continued to lay there with eyes wide. What the fuck just happened was he dead oh god.

 The monster leaped off him, and Ladybug dropped to his side. She held his hand, and helped him sit up. He was shaking too much to function.

They stared at Maka. Holding a confident stance, she easily held off the skeleton with her scythe. Jumping back, she got ready to swipe at it. Ladybug and Chat could see another monster rise up from the ground behind them.

“Behind you!” Ladybug yelled. Without flinching, Maka spun to slash through the first monster and continued through the swing to cut at the skeleton behind her. She couldn’t completely tear through this one as she did the last, and she stood on offense as her scythe cut at the forearm of the third monster. She yelled and jumped back.

The second skeleton was on the ground, but still moving. It used its hands to drag itself towards Maka.

"Your soul is mine to take! Witch Hunter!” She sliced through both skeletons this time and their bones crumbled. Two red floating lights were left in their wake. Chat glanced up, and saw another red light glowing from where he’d killed a skeleton. His ring beeped once.

Ladybug’s eyes had stayed on the battle the entire time, tensed and ready to intervene if she had to. Her left hand was on his shoulder, her right holding his. He squeezed her hand lightly, and she glanced down.

“Cat got your tongue? Are you feeling better?”

“Yep, thanks Ladybug” He smiled at her. They stood, and Chat pouted when she let go of his hand.

The scythe Soul transformed back into a human, and drooling swallowed the souls, savoring the taste of each red light.

“Those weren’t Akumatized humans. What were those creatures?” Ladybug asked Maka, as Soul was too busy enjoying the red lights.

“They’re kishin eggs. Humans that have left the path of humanity and are evil. Shinigami has a list which indicates who needs to be stopped.”

“And the only way to stop them is to kill them?”

“Yep! Then Soul here, or any Demon Weapon, can eat them!”

“Thank you for the meal” Soul said, while Chat made a gagging motion, which Soul ignored.

Chat’s ring beeped again. Ladybug put her hand on his shoulder, and motioned for him to head back. He nodded, and with a “Ciao my Lady, Maka and Soul, gotta make my exit now~” He made like a cat and scatted away. He was worried about Ladybug staying with them, but knew she could protect herself.

 

**POV change**

 

“So what are you guys doing in Paris anyway? I can hear your American accent, and we’ve never heard of kishins or demon weapons before today.” Ladybug asked.

“We were sent here to deal with the kishins! Now that we’re done with that, we just gotta hang out with you a bit. The DWMA wanted to find out what was with all the magical activity in this area.” Soul did a slavic squat, using his pinky as a toothpick, while Maka explained.

“Aha I’m not doing any interviews at the moment!”

“Common Ladybug. That’s your name right? And your partner’s Chat? We can meet over a coffee it’s no big deal!” Maka went to grab Ladybug’s elbow to pull her into towards the main street. Ladybug slipped her elbow out.

“Haha I’ve really got places to be! Have a good stay in Paris!” She used her yoyo to pull herself up to the roof of the Hotel Matignon, and ran to another rooftop towards her home. She heard _‘soul transform!’_ in the background, and grimaced. She really wasn’t ready to spill all of her secrets to this women, and she knew the best way to avoid Maka was to transform back. The red dotted costume wasn’t exactly camouflage.

She threw out her yoyo, and let herself fall into the underground metro. There she ran into a crook and transformed, holding out a hand to catch Tikki.

“You good? I’m sorry, I didn’t remember to snatch some cookies when I saw Chat outside my window.”

“I’m fine Marinette! Plus you didn’t use Lucky Charm, so I haven’t used too much of my power!”

“That’s good!” Marinette said, and tucking Tikki into her purse she went into the Metro. Her house was only one stop by Metro from here, which she would usually just walk, but because she was already down there it was no big deal.

Plus Marinette didn’t see any flying witchs in the underground, which calmed her nerves on being interrogated.

Those creatures were terrifying. There was no way to avoid the obvious difference between her monsters, and theirs. There were no elastic costumes or butterfly markings on their faces. Instead, it was straight out of a grotesque horror film. Excessively bloody, something so strange that if she'd seen it in theaters she would have called it unrealistic.

And Chat had been able to deal with them. With one, at least. No matter her skills, she didn't think she as Ladybug could kill them, maybe only contain them.

 

When she was on her way up from the underground at her stop, she noticed her phone missed a message. Her heart skipped a beat and she grinned wildly. It was from Adrien!

She closed her eyes and paused, relishing in the feeling. However, she stopped so suddenly that the person behind her walked right into her. Ignoring the man’s mutterings of _idiots_ , she opened up the message.

 

**Sunday at 4/24/15 13:41**

_Hey! I was wondering if you were free today to work on the English project?_

Hey! I am free! Want to meet at my place in an hour? I think my parents made fresh pies today :)

_Really?! Sounds great! I’ll be there in an hour!_

Marinette smiled. She only had a couple paces left to make it back to the bakery, and she went in through the front door.

 

“Hello Papa! Everything going well?”

“Marinette! Well I hadn’t even noticed you went out. Busy this morning?”

“Only a little bit Papa. I wanted to meet up with a new friend!”

“Who’s that? Someone in your class?”

“Nope! She’s American, someone you wouldn’t have met!”

“Ah alright. Go say hey to your mom in the back.”

Marinette dropped a quick hello, and saw her mom about to put meat pies in the oven. Smiling at the reminder of Adrien’s soon visit, she swiped a couple cookies and went to her room.

_‘At this point I really need to permanently put down my pictures of Adrien,’_ she thought, as she systematically unstuck his magazine pictures and put them in her drawer. She even remembered to hide the framed picture.

 

She looked over the assignment, and got everything she needed out of her bag. The prompt was to write an essay about a point in your life when you had to face something you do commonly with a new perspective.

Marinette had a flashback to the movie Easy A, where Olive Penderghast was studying “The Scarlet Letter” all while living through systemic sexism and slut shaming.

She got goosebumps and tried to shake off the feeling of déjà vu. Besides, it’s not like she could write about her experiences as Ladybug. Adrien had to read the essay, and she couldn’t imagine what he’d say if he found out. What if he liked her less for it?

Marinette pouted at the thought, and started feeling blue.

 

It was almost time for Adrien to come by, so she made her way down. Her Mama, who was now upstairs preparing dinner, saw that she was just sulking on the couch and told her to go help Papa at the cashier until he came.

She had to fake a smile while working with the customers, but it kept her mind off the thought of Adrien reacting badly to learning about her secret. She was in the middle of packaging a couple macaroons for a young man who often came to buy small gifts for his beau, when the bell rang and a familiar voice rang with it.

“Soul this place looks good for a snack!”

Maka excitedly stepped in, glancing over her shoulder at Soul who was slowly trailing after her. He perked up,

“It smells so good in here.”

Maka smiled happily turning forward.

Marinette faked a grin and tried to stay calm. She had to, Maka couldn’t have any idea of who she was. At least that’s what Marinette thought until a blank and concentrated expression flitted across her face and then Maka grinned like the cat that got the cream. She couldn’t know, how could she find out with just a glance?

“Welcome to Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie!” Marinette said brightly.

Maka grabbed Souls hand, and was whispering excitedly. His eyes grew wide, making Marinette notice his blood red eyes. _That’s curious,_ she thought. She remembered how he’d shaken her on the day they met, and remembered that he indeed had red eyes back then too, they’d just been darker and less contrasting that night.

Soul went up to order with Maka hanging onto his shoulders to better see Marinette.

“We’d like two strawberry Danishes please. Do you happen to have anything Ladybug themed here? A sweet with spots? A God hidden in your pocket maybe?” He said conversationally.

Marinette froze.

She broke into a fake smile.

“Haha sorry I have no idea what you just said. Two strawberry Danishes?”

“And one interview with Ladybug please.”

Marinette tried ignoring them. She must be hallucinating. There was no hint as to who she was. Maybe they had a clue and were going around asking everyone. Maybe this was a nightmare.

“That will be five euros please!”

“Well we were hoping the interview would be free?” Soul asked, taking out his wallet. Maka kept grinning at Marinette, not taking her eyes off of her.

Marinette had to be strong. She had to be sneaky. She couldn’t let her identity be found out by some witch or demon visitor from America. Nope.

At that moment, the door opened and Adrien walked in. Finding an exit, Marinette snatched off her apron and went for his shoulder, pulling him away.

“Oohhhh look what the cat dragged in!” Maka looked even more excited if that was possible. Her hands were clasped together and she bounced slightly in place.

Adrien stopped at that and stared for a second.

“Good one!” He said, reaching out despite Marinette’s tug back to high five Maka.

“Do you have a second? We just want to talk I swear!”

“I might have a meow-ment to spare! What’s up who are these people Marinette?”

Marinette was still pulling him back, but he didn’t let her drag him away. His face was filled with curiosity.

“Curiosity killed the cat Adrien let’s just go please!”

Soul whistled.

“These are horrible and totally uncool puns, but that really did fit the situation Chat.”

Adrien face shifted to a look of horror.

“W-what did you call me?” He faced them, apparently completely oblivious to Marinette trying to man-handle him away from the situation.

“You’re Chat Noir. She’s Ladybug. I can see souls, of course I’d recognize you! Plus your Gods are literally in your pockets, it would be hard to miss!”

Marinette froze.

“Haha this is all bullshit! I don’t believe it! I’m not Ladybug, I’m just Marinette!”

“And I’m Adrien, I’m too busy to go around risking my life like those heroes!” He was scratching at the back of his neck, a flush appearing on his ears.

Maka's excitement turned to disbelief.

“I can see souls. Please stop. This is ridiculous, all we want is to talk to you and your Gods for an hour! I could learn so much! How does your transformation merge your souls? Is it like intense soul resonance?”

“No no it’s obvious we’re just regular humans just living our human lives we’re going to just leave now.” Marinette tried to drag Adrien away again.

His eyes seemed to be widened in interest, and Marinette assumed this would all seem very interesting to someone who wasn’t seconds away from their life changing permanently.

“And we’ll explain something about us too,” Maka bribed them. “About our Death God, about me and Soul, we can even give you the 411 on the change to the moon.” Maka was leaning with her hand out in an attempt to make a deal. Soul’s smile was predatory, and he seemed somewhat proud.

“Welll,” Adrien paused and looked at her. Marinette was desperate for everything to end. “Why don’t we pretend we’re Chat and Ladybug. They’re convinced of it anyway. Plus we’ll be able to hear all this cool stuff! What do you think Marinette?”

“They’re crazy! All they have to spout is crazy talk!” Marinette looked slightly crazy herself as she smacked her head in disbelief.

“We can hear you, for Death’s sake.” Soul barked.

Adrien turned to Marinette, and placed his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him, and he looked at her, concerned.

“Are you feeling uncomfortable? Sorry, we don’t have to do anything. I won’t even think of it then Mari.” She gulped, and stared at him. All she could think of in that moment was green, so bright, so beautiful. Entranced she stood there stiff as a board, a blush rising from her cheeks.

“Really I… I mean I think don’t they should… We shouldn’t… um…” She took a deep breathe, and just closed her eyes. She could think more clearly like this, despite how strange it must seem to him.

“I don’t want to talk to them.”

Adrien turned, and keeping her behind his back, spoke.

“Thanks but no thanks strangers! We’re going to go now, enjoy your food!” And he briskly turned back towards Marinette, and went upstairs with her.

They quietly and quickly went away, Marinette softly telling her dad they were going up to her room.

 

When the door closed to her room, they both sighed deeply. Glancing at him, she caught his eye and they looked at each other. A moment passed, and Marinette looked away first.

“How ridiculous would it be if _I_ were Ladybug, right? She’s pretty fantastic.” She looked down at the fuzzy pink rug, and made her way to the desk she prepared for studying.

“I mean, Ladybug is fantastic. She’s so brave and kind. And smart!” Adrien started, “But Mari, how are you not all those things too?”

Adrien walked up behind her and did the thing where he put his hand on her shoulder. She refused to look up.

“Remember that time you helped Chat capture Nathan as Evillustrator? You were his partner, just like Ladybug!” He kneeled in front of her, and spun her chair to face him. Marinette still avoided his gaze, except now her eyes were on his designer jeans. They were really well made, and Mari was half paying attention to the style before remembering that Adrien was right there in front of her. Focusing on her, to make her feel better.

“The problems you face may be less supernatural, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less difficult! Your designs are so good they impressed my father. You were able to work with Jagged Stone, your work is worn by rock stars! And whenever there’s an Akuma attack, I always see you reacting to it first, trying to make sure your friends are safe. You’re so kind, and are such a good friend. You’re my important friend, if you put yourself down its like you’re hurting one of my friends.” Adrien began blushing, and Marinette focused on it. She was even more embarrassed now, and her face felt like it must be bright enough to match the costume she usually wore.

“So Marinette, it wouldn’t be all that ridiculous if you were Ladybug. All you need is some confidence and a red latex costume.” He finished with a grin. She lightly pushed him on the arm, but in her embarrassment she pushed slightly too hard and Adrien fell from his crouch while Marinette swiveled on her chair.

She coughed feeling even more awkward. She peeked over the back of the chair at Adrien, who was just sitting back on his hands, still staring at her in a way that made all the butterflies in her stomach go crazy.

“Sorry I’m so maladroit, Adrien. Thanks… for everything you just said. You’d make a miraculous Ladybug too.”

“Well wouldn’t I be a cool Chat Noir?”

“Well, you’d be a cool anything! Chat’s a bit dorky for you though. You’ll have to work on your cat puns.”

“It’s im-paw-ssible that you think I needed to work on cat puns!” Adrien grinned like a cheshire cat, all teeth with a wicked glint in his eye. She'd seen that look before.

“Oh no, I shouldn’t encourage you!”

Adrien got up from the floor, and did a low bow, holding out his hand at Marinette.

“Will you be the Ladybug to my Chat Noir?” He offered his hand and Marinette squeaked, still hiding half her face behind the back of the chair. _Ladybug and Chat Noir are just good friends! Partners! I should know, as I’m one of them! This is not romantic in the slightest and it’s crazy I even thought it!!!_

She took his hand and hoped he couldn’t feel her shaking, “Let’s do this! We’ll destroy the English essay and de-Akumatize the paper!”

“I’ll cataclysm any mistakes we write!”

They stand there, pretending to be heroes for a second. Adrien breaks first, and starts laughing uncontrollably and Marinette follows.

“Let’s just get it over with as soon as possible.”

Adrien pulls up a chair to sit next to Marinette. She felt his knee brush hers, and for a second thought not to move it, but just thinking about it made her feel self-conscious all over again. She spun to face more forward than at Adrien. She couldn’t help but glance up at his face after a moment, he was calm while going through his own paper work.

“Write an essay about a point in your life when you had to face something you do commonly with a new perspective,” Adrien began. “Shall I start telling you what I had in mind for mine?”

Marinette nodded.

“Well, I’ve had to go to school all my life, just it was home school. When I was able to go to Collège Françoise Dupont, my perspective shifted” Adrien grinned, “like when I was accused of leaving bubblegum on your chair. No, more actually school related, there was more independence and I was able to meet new, and cool, people.” Adrien held a pen to the couple of notes he’d jotted, although what he was saying was mostly unwritten.

“Now we’re now in lycée, and I’m more used to everything, and this time I felt my perspective change along with everyone else in the class,” Adrien said as he glanced at her. “We all met new people here, are taking different classes, maybe joining new clubs like you with design club. And that’s pretty much all I was going to write about.”

Marinette ruminated over Adrien’s idea, trying to think of something he should add to his essay.

“Why don’t you finish your essay by predicting how your next school transition will go? Like University, or if you’re not going to go then what it’ll be like to work full time.” Marinette said.

“God I don’t want to work full time as a model! Like it’s fun, but it’s not my end goal or dream.”

“What is your dream, Adrien?”

“Be a superhero,” He gave her a cheeky grin. “Or maybe a teacher. Maybe, I don’t even know, I’ll be a writer. For fiction. Or write non-fiction, Ill interview Ladybug and write her story.”

“You should go to Alya if you’ve got plans on that, she’s got a lot of info on all things Ladybug.”

“Why ask Alya when Ladybug is right here with me? Tell me Ladybug, when did your perspective change in life?”

Marinette was hit with familiarity as she’d literally just thought of all she could write about if she’d only written from Ladybug’s perspective. She bit her lip to keep her from gasping in surprise or murmuring. Adrien’s eyes flicked down, before moving squarely back to meet her eyes.

“When I was making Jagged Stone’s album cover, I had a lot of people influencing my decision on how to create it. I’ve never had that before, I was always able to create and design based on what I wanted to make, or how I thought something would look the best.”

“I guess,” Marinette continued. “It was a glance as to how the real, adult, world is like. People will want something specific from me, and I’ll have to do my best to let others influence my work even if it’s not something I’d decide on personally. Unless I’m able to just make my own brand and sell what I want, which right now it’s unlikely I’d be successful at it, I’ll just have to bend to others will.”

Adrien was frowning in thought, and Marinette tugged at her jacket. She was smoothing down imaginary wrinkles in her pants when he replied.

“Maybe you should have a little blurb in the essay about how in the end, working with Jagged Stone let you design as you wanted? Then you can draw a parallel to how you wish you could work in the future.”

Yes, she had been really lucky in that sense. She mentally thanked Tikki and promised to get her extra sweets.

“Jagged Stone is so cool, right? I mean, his music and style is amazing, but working with him was so great too in that regard.”

“Ya he is! His concert is the only one I’ve ever been to, and it was amazing!”

“I remember that! I should get us some concert tickets so we could go again. I wonder if I could get a discount?”

“Marinette, you should let me pay for them! I’ve got money saved up from modeling, it’d be my pleasure!”

Marinette blushed at the thought of Adrien buying her tickets, of it being like a date!

“N-no I really shouldn’t… I mean I couldn’t! And I’m sure that with a discount they’d be affordable enough for me!” She wanted to slam her head into the desk. She’d pretty much given up her stuttering habits around Adrien and did **not** want them resurfacing. She wracked her brain to change the subject for now, and her eyes fell on the forgotten work on the table.

“Adrien we’ve forgotten about the homework!”


	5. Eater/Miraculous Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I know I sometimes point out a POV change and sometimes I just let it happen. I just want the least amount of confusion for everyone, and sometimes it seems okay not to interrupt the flow~~)

Maka and Soul had decided to stake out their targets by eating pastries outside the shop. There was a circular table set up right in the sunshine, with a couple tulips set in a delicate vase. The chairs weren’t the most comfortable, and a little wet after the rain earlier that day, but they sat on their jackets and bathed in the sun. Occasionally one of them would remember that they burn pretty easily and that this probably wasn’t the best place for a stake out. It doesn't matter as much when Soul got up and brought back a tea for Maka and a coffee for himself. With the warm and slightly bitter drinks combined with the sweet treats, united with the warming rays of the sun, time passed in an ethereal way where everything was swell. Or as Soul put it, cool.

“You know, I bet they’re dating. Partners tend to do that, think of Tsubaki and Star?” Maka mentioned, soul perception keeping an eye on the two teens.

“Sure, but its not always so cool to work out. Kid and Liz was an awkward affair. I know they’re still going at it, but being in the same room as them...”

“I hope it works out for them though. I don’t think they could handle Soul Resonance if they broke up.”

“True. Although they’ve both got a pretty responsible personality in the end, they might push through it for their ‘greater good’”

“Sounds like a pain. Just look at Papa, he tried dating his partner. Not Stein ugh that’s a disgusting thought; but him and Mama were a train wreck.”

“He’s just one big uncool man.”

Maka hummed in agreement, and the conversation died off. They sipped their drinks, the snacks being long gone. Eventually the movement of the sun fell behind one of the buildings by the bakery, and they were in the shade. It was suddenly much colder, and Soul stood up. He shaked out his jacket to get some rain drops off and put it on. Maka did the same, and they moved to a side table that still avoided the shade.

Eventually Soul’s eyes dropped, and he lightly snored. Maka wanted to kick him awake but felt too stupid to move. They’d been here for a couple hours now, and although the stake out would probably yield some results it was such a bother to stay. She knew the moment they left that one of the targets would inexplicably leave as well.

It was as the shade was creeping its reach towards the new table that Maka was taken out of her bored stupor by movement of one of the souls.

The grey one made its way down as the blue one remained.

“Ugh OW. What was that for?” Soul rubbed his shin where Maka had decided to wake him.

“Chat’s on the move, get ready for an ambush.”

“Let’s pummel him.”

Soul flinched, and rubbed his shin again where Maka kicked him, not once, but twice now.

“We’re gonna have a chat, that’s all!” She reprimanded.

“That’s a horrible pun.”

 

 

Adrien was feeling refreshed after hanging out with Mari. Although it was unnerving for her to jokingly refer to him as her Chaton while simultaneously not knowing about his double life, it all made for really fun conversations. And speaking to him as if he were Chat made Mari more open. Adrien thought that today was one of the few times he felt like he got to become even better friends with Marinette. She was funny and creative, it was really refreshing to be around someone so full of energy.

He left her room and said goodbye over his shoulder, convincing her that she didn’t need to walk him out. Her house was homey even for a visitor like him. A sweet scent permeated throughout the house, and Adrien concluded that the bakery was using vanilla with some of the baked goods they were making today.

He walked down the two flights of stairs, said his goodbyes to her parents who were working, and froze when he recognized the two figures outside the front door.

_Well shit._

Adrien tried to keep a neutral expression on his face. He’s completely prepared to pass by them in the same manner he passes people giving out ads on the street, but he’s conflicted. On one hand, it’s dangerous for them to figure out that he’s Chat, and Marinette was obviously not feeling very comfortable. Plus they seemed to be dangerous people in the violent sense as well. On the other, he was really curious. They seemed to know so much. The magical world was miraculous and filled of the unknown.

Holding himself back from giving in to their questions, Adrien walked robotically out the door.

 

“Adrien!” Maka said brightly, “We heard that girl, Marinette was it? She mentioned your name. We’ll make sure people don’t realize you’re Chat! Although its pretty strange to think that you can hide your identity while you fight for everyone’s safety. We don’t get pretty masks.”

“Why do you keep saying you think I’m Chat?” He silently cursed himself for responding to her at all.

“We’ve already covered this Adrien, I can see souls.”

“What do they look like?”

Maka’s lips curved into a smile.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me about your ‘daytime job’”

Adrien shook his head in incredulous disbelief. They were obstinate, even to the point of sitting outside Marinette’s shop. Suddenly he realized how strange it was that they stayed for so long. It wasn’t safe for Mari or her family if they stalked the residence.

“I’ll call the police on you if you continue to loiter here.”

“We paid for a meal, nothing illegal about sitting around afterwards.” Soul mentioned, standing shoulder to shoulder with Maka. Or he would have if he wasn’t half a foot taller than her while slouching.

Adrien frowned. A solution would be to barter his information for Marinette’s safety. When he’d asked her about the pair, she really didn’t look comfortable having to speak to them.

And he definitely wanted to protect her, but he’d be making himself vulnerable by opening up to the strange witch and weapon.

He grabbed at his hair in frustration, and looked up at the sky. It was gonna be night soon. He continued avoiding the pair for a second longer, glancing down the street to think of escaping from this situation.

Giving up, he looked Maka in the eye.

“Let’s chat then. But in return, you will not come back to this café.”

He saw Maka and Soul glance at each other before nodding, agreeing to the deal.

 

The three of them were seated at a restaurant about a mile away from Marinette’s shop. Adrien purposefully came with this place in mind, as it was busy enough for having a private conversation but also had enough crooks that they wouldn’t be out in the open as they did it. It was also a plus to get them away from Marinette, and he had silently walked the full mile with the two following. He had a strange feeling they could talk without speaking, and it unnerved him.

The place had open full length windows, and tables spilled into the courtyard. It was nearly nighttime, and Parisians sat with their wine glasses and people watched while catching up with friends.

They were seated by the wall in the corner, and the wall seemed to hug the table giving them more privacy. The lights were dim, and the room smoky from subpar ventilation from the kitchen and all the smoking. There was music playing, but it was difficult to hear with the babble of talk. As private as they were going to get, seeing as Adrien didn’t want to be caught alone with the two.

Adrien was sitting with his arms crossed and his legs stiff. Soul’s body language mimicked him, but Maka was sitting comfortably enough, perusing through the menu.

“First of all, let’s get this straight. This needs to stay secret. If you have to go tell your higher-ups about this, you keep my identity out of it. I also want to be protected from persecution by you two, or by any of your colleagues.”

“We’ll agree to that as long as you’re not someone who should be persecuted.” Soul quietly snarled.

“What we mean,” Maka added, “is that we don’t know enough right now to trust this situation.”

“Ya, well. I know as much as there is to know. And I’m not doing anything that deserves punishment.”

Maka furrowed her brows and grimaced, “And if that’s true, we obviously won’t punish you! Common, we’re not the police. We deal with supernatural monsters. If you’re not a supernatural monster, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“And I’m not a supernatural monster.”

“Then let’s start talking about what you _really_ are!”

“I will! But I’m not going to start if you don’t give me your word that you’ll keep this a secret, and that you won’t violently swing your scythe at my head!” Adrien was speaking aggressively. He kept his voice low, and couldn’t keep out the annoyance from dealing with such a stubborn person who was trying to weasel her way out of their agreement.

“Okay, I promise. More like, we promise. Right Soul?”

“Sure.”

“Now that we’ve got that over with, spill. Who’s that God you’ve got in your pocket?”

Adrien uncrossed his arms and set his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. His clasped hands partially hid his face from view of Maka and Soul. He couldn’t believe he was going to talk about this to someone other than Master Fu. His anxiety mixed with excitement of talking about the wonder of the magic he used. He paused, and finally seemed to realize that he was going to tell these people about himself, his true self. And despite his worry, he hoped everything would turn out alright. They used magic too, they promised to keep his identity safe.

“So what you call a God, it’s my Kwami. His name is Plagg. And he’s not gonna introduce himself right now because I’m sure someone would notice him zipping out. Besides,” Adrien added as an afterthought, “he wouldn’t be too interested in talking unless you gave him some Camembert cheese.”

“Too true!” Came a small voice, ringing from his breast pocket.

“What’s he like?” Maka asked. Right now she was leaning forward on her elbows, eyes sparkling.

“He’s known for his bad luck. Plagg has been around for thousands and thousands of years, giving a human his powers in times when they were needed.

He isn’t in charge of finding his own heroes. There’s another miraculous holder that’s in charge of that. But once he’s assigned to someone, right now that person being me -- and I accepted -- I could transform into Chat.”

Maka was nodding along to what he was saying, “And what happens when you—“

Soul grabbed her arm and she paused. That’s when they noticed the waiter approaching them, and they were quiet until they arrived. Ordering three teas and two burgers (Adrien passed, he’d eaten enough at Mari’s), the waiter left.

“What happens when you transform?” Maka asked again.

“I just ask to transform, and then magic sorta envelops me? I get a costume change as it happens, and suddenly I have better vision, better hearing, better smelling. It’s wicked cool.”

Soul nodded in agreement, but Maka wasn’t placated, “Magic just envelops you? Because compared to now, I’d say your Chat form is the merging of your soul and your Kwami’s soul.”

“Well unlike some,” He gave a pointed look at her, “I can’t ‘see’ souls. I don’t know what happens. How do you see souls anyway, what does mine look like?”

“Well if its like our Soul Resonance, which is what we use to fight. I’d say it’s pretty close. Do you feel an intense buildup of soul wavelengths, a type of energy, when you fight? Can you talk to your Kwami just by thinking in that state? Let’s say you got in an argument, would your attacks or transformation not work as well??”

Adrien grimaced, he wanted to know what his soul looked like. Not that he totally believed she could see it, but he’d seen Ladybug go back in time, it couldn’t be completely impossible compared to that!

“I do feel a lot of energy when I fight, but it doesn’t feel particularly different from anything I’ve felt before in my life. I _can_ hear my Kwami, and I don’t think my performance would be affected by an argument?”

Adrien continued, “And you’re totally skiving off your part of the agreement. What are your powers like?”

“Well, we’d show you our Soul Resonance, but people will stare if we suddenly start glowing. Not exactly glowing,” Maka contemplated, “if you see it you’d understand. That’s when Soul and I send each other our wavelengths, magnifying them with each loop and causing a large amount of energy to concentrate between us. I’m a meister, not a witch _at all_. Specifically, I have an anti-demon wavelength, so when we release our energy in a form of an attack it’s especially effective on kishins.”

“I’ve got an attack, it’s called cataclysm. I can destroy anything I touch, so it’s called a gift of destruction.”

“Anything?” Maka sounded surprised.

“Everything I’ve tried it on before. It worked on the Eiffel Tower, I was even able to destroy an alternate dimension when an Akumatized victim trapped people in photographs.”

They both stared at him in shock. Feeling a bit self-conscious, he continued.

“So how come you see souls?”

“It’s called Soul Perception. So, just with a touch -- you just -- destroy?”

“Umm yep. I can only do it once per transformation, and afterwards don’t have a lot of time before I change back. Actually!” Adrien suddenly remembered. “I stopped one of the skeleton kishin things. I really should have thought whether I should’ve done it, beforehand, it could have been an Akuma or someone we could have saved. But I panicked. Soul Perception?”

“That’s pretty cool.”

“Ah thanks Soul. I guess. Your name’s pretty great by the way, so many opportunities for puns.”

“Ugh it would be worse to go by my given name.”

 

Maka was thinking hard. Death would want to know that there was such a power in the world. On one hand, people joined the DWMA to learn how to control their powers and in return the academy held a lot of resources from talented students. Adrien was confident in his power, he wouldn’t join the DWMA now.

But it was dangerous that such a power existed. If one of their enemies had the power of destruction by a single touch, then it would be nearly impossible to fight them in the traditional way. Maka shuddered in horror as her imagination got away from her, thinking of the consequences if she fought with Chat using Soul. Even if Adrien had asked for protection against DWMA forces, she didn’t know how Kid’s gonna react to this.

She snapped out of her thoughts as Adrien once again asked her about Soul Perception.

 

“It’s like another plane of consciousness for me. I usually don’t pay attention to it, but it helps in battle. Yours is a medium sized soul, a grey color. Your god Plagg has a huge soul, green with white stripes. When you’re Chat your soul had a green tint to it, and you get the white stripes. From my perspective, you become a god.”

“Woah. That’s awesome! What about your souls? What about Ladybug’s?”

“Well your Ladybug’s soul is also medium sized, blue. Its got pigtails on it, just like mine. And then when she turns into Ladybug her soul has a red glow, again with the stripes that indicate godhood. Are you sure you don’t want to invite her over to help you answer questions?”

Adrien didn’t really understand what she was saying. He was imagining Ladybugs beautiful soul, wishing he could see it too. He didn’t really process what Maka was saying. Mystified by her soul, he just kind of stupidly dreamed of it.

There was a strange lurking in the back of his head though. Maybe he missed something that Maka was saying?

He looked at her, questioningly. Then at Soul. And then it hit him like a lump of bricks to the face.

“You don’t mean – you can’t be serious! No no no so you mean that Ladybug, MY Ladybug,” he didn’t even have the decency to blush. “She is…”

They were looking at him strangely.

“When you knew I was Chat, you also knew who Ladybug was?”

Maka was nodding at him as if he was exceedingly slow.

“And when you called Mari, I mean Marinette, Ladybug. That it wasn’t a random guess? You know her?”

The nodding continued.

“So. Let me get this straight. Marinette is Ladybug.”

“That’s what I said”

“I never knew.”

Souls eyebrows rose incredulously.

“You don’t know your partners identity?”

“Not before now.”

“Why not? You’re partners. You should trust each other, it should be a given. What if one of you gets hurt, gets taken? You leave each other with injuries and can live peacefully while they suffer?” Soul moved closer to Maka as he spoke, and put his hand on her shoulder.

“So far we’ve never been badly hurt. And there’s a villain after us. If people knew of our identity, we would never have a peaceful life. Marinette…”

He pictured the two separate entities in his head. No matter what he thought, he couldn’t mesh Ladybug and Marinette to be the same person.

“But it doesn’t seem like she’s Ladybug though?” He looked carefully at Maka, trying to tell whether she was lying or not.

But it was Soul that answered, “Well I can’t see it either. I mean, I’ve probably seen her less than you, but I think they’re two completely different people. I completely trust Maka though,” at this he gave a pointed look at Adrien and his hand on Maka’s shoulder squeezed affectionately, “so I believe her.”

“I’m paying attention to her soul. Souls are distinctive entities, not exactly as unique as fingerprints but close, and Marinette and Ladybug’s souls are one and the same. Your soul and Chat’s soul is the same too. Of course, I’m taking into account the changes that effect your souls when you resonate with your gods.”

Adrien still looked wary, so Maka didn’t leave it at that.

“It would help if you made a list of characteristics that Ladybug has and Marinette has. When you try to think about it, it doesn’t add up. But if you write it some obvious traits stand out. More than anything, I think your gods’ powers are responsible for this camouflage.”

He didn’t have much to lose at this point, so feeling silly doing it he took a paper out of his bag.  He uncapped a ballpoint pen and started drafting:

_Who is Ladybug?_  
  
---  
  
Ladybug

| 

Marinette  
  
1.    Ladybug Suit

2.    Black hair (pigtails)

3.    Big Blue Eyes (<3)

4.    Asian heritage?

5.    Small Lips

6.    Confidant

7.    Heroic

8.   Beautiful

9.    Helpful

10\. In Charge

| 

1.    School Clothes (neat)

2.    Black hair (pigtails)

3.    Big Blue Eyes

4.    Asian Heritage

5.    Small Lips

6.    Shy

7.    Designer

8.   Cute

9.    Helpful

10\. Funny  
  
 

He squinted at the list. While he wrote, the waitress delivered the food and drinks. Maka and Soul were digging in, but Adrien had to concentrate at what was at hand. He could see the similarities in her appearance, although the personality traits were very different.

He could understand that a superhero would act differently from their civilian self (he was Example A for that). He couldn’t understand why it was so hard to compare the two in his head, when looking at the list they seemed really similar. Not even assuming Marinette was Ladybug, he could see that they were really similar. He'd been serious earlier that day telling her she was as _great_ as Ladybug, but he thought of it as a different _type_ of greatness.

Perhaps this was something Plagg could explain further, but he’d have to wait until they were out of the restaurant to ask. A frustrated hand swept up to pull his hair back out of his eyes. Now that he was onto someone, now that he had a chance of knowing who Ladybug was: he was dying with curiosity. It was hard to remember why they shouldn’t find out each others identities in the first place.

His leg was bouncing in place, and he glanced at his watch. It was 21:00, which meant that he could have a chance to meet up with and talk to Ladybug about this. They didn’t do patrols because inexplicably they would always find out about any Akuma attacks by tv or through chance, but he knew that Ladybug was fond of taking swings around Paris at night. He enjoyed it himself, whether it was to clear his head or for the freedom.

He swallowed down the tea, burning his mouth slightly, and stood up. Leaving five euros at the table (more than enough for a tea), he looked Soul and Maka in the eye.

“Right. Don’t go near Marinette, you promised me. If you have more questions later I’m sure you’ll find a way to get in contact. I’m busy now and I’m going to go.”

He shuffled out of the busy restaurant and walked out into the Parisian night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry if the formatting of the Who Is Ladybug chart is distorted, I don't know the best way to organize it and don't want to put all that down in a long list instead.  
> And I know Adrien gets a little bit distracted about Ladybug, taking away from the eater/miraculous conflict, but hey -- he loves the girl. Love is distracting, even when facing dangerous and possibly violent strangers.


	6. Miraculous chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of Adrien here~

Adrien was a bit chilly in his room so he’d grabbed his comforter off the bed.

After leaving Maka and Soul, he'd gone around the main arrondissement, before retiring back home. If he was being honest, he'd made his way out so early that he didn't really expect to see Ladybug, although he'd hoped for it.

The trek outside did cool his head, and he remembered his responsibilities. He wanted to finish the rest of his homework and take a shower before going out later-- there were no guarantees that he’d find her and work wasn’t going to do itself.

Adrien had to admit to himself that without his Dad’s constant pressure, he’d probably be really behind and only concentrate on his superhero work. Sure, it would suck to fail a test, but Adrien didn’t even have the freedom to do that. He had to get good grades or his Dad would intervene. Adrien didn’t want that to happen.

Plagg happily ate Camembert next to Adrien, occasionally explaining further how the camouflage worked in Chat form.

“Remember that movie we watched together, with the wizards? Nyan, well my camouflage works kinda like that. That school, the stadium where they played that ridiculous sport, and the spell those wizards cast over their tent to make the others stay away. It’s more mind over matter. If you could focus on the matter, like that Witch Maka can, it’s pretty easy to recognize you.”

“She’s not a witch Plagg. She explained it, she’s a ‘miester’.”

It was an hour to midnight, and he was just finishing the last of his calculus. Making sure to pack everything, he set out an outfit to wear the next day. He turned off the rooms light.

“Alright Plagg, let’s find our Bug. Transform me!”

*Magic light envelops Adrien as he does spectacular poses. His inner magical girl blossoms into the Chat you know and love*

 

He found Ladybug sitting at the Trocadéro. It was late enough that there weren’t many people out, but early still that the fountains lit up the night sky. The water seemed to play, rippling the air with water droplets that reflected the light from the Eiffel Tower.

“My Lady, I am here.”

“What are you doing here Kitty? Out for a stroll? Want to chat?”

“I’m always ready to chat with you Ladybug.”

“I know, it seems I can’t get you to keep quiet.” But she looked playful as she said it.

Chat sat down next to her, but instead of facing the view he looked at Ladybug.

“Listen, I actually really need to talk to you about something. It’s impurrtant.”

She faced him, and nodded seriously.

“It’s a bit of a story, so hear me out at first. I saw Soul and Maka again today. They were outside a bakery I know, one where a civilian I’ve worked with lives at.” He was careful to keep a neutral face despite how desperate he was for everything to be settled, “they’d been sitting there for hours, and I felt uncomfortable letting them practically stalk the girl. I told them to leave. They said I had no right, and that they’d only leave if I talked with them.”

Her eyes were wide with understanding, which led Chat to continue.

“I thought of the consequences of going with them, I swear I did! But I couldn’t let them bother the girl and her family.”

Chat Noir took a deep breath, and let it out.

“They know my civilian identity.”

“Oh.” She murmured, “no.”

“I didn’t tell them, but she’s got magic like we do.”

Her eyes were wide. He saw fear in them, and she held herself.

“Is there anything we can do about it?” She asked after a pause.

“I told them to leave me -- and you -- alone. I told them not to let the secret out, not even to their God. They agreed, but I don’t know if we can really trust them.”

“Wait, and me? As--as Ladybug, or as my civilian self?”

“Both.” Chat said firmly, “and I need to speak to you about that too. I might know your civilian identity now?”

“You—you know who I am?!”

“I might. I swear I won’t keep you in the dark about my identity. It’s just, we’ve got this special camouflage that doesn’t make it easy to see who the person under the mask is. So even if someone tells me, and even if I write a list of all your similar qualities, it’s still so confusing!”

Ladybug looked away from Chat, at the Eiffel Tower.

“Lady please don’t cry! It’s going to be okay, I swear.” He takes her hand in his, squeezing, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn’t run from him.

“Please don’t be disappointed. I’m sorry I’m just me. Not suited for this job.”

“Ladybug stop! I’m not disappointed, how could I be when it turns out my two amazing friends are actually one and the same? Now I know, you’re amazing all the time! I respect the hell out of you!”

Ladybug takes in a coarse breath. She squeezes his hand back.

“Thank you. For not leaving even when you know. Just say my name, so we know for sure.”

“Marinette.” Chat says without pause.

She lets out a weak chuckle.

“Yep, that’s me.”

“And we’re friends, with our masks or without. I’m Adrien.”

All of a sudden she yanks her hand back from him, and slaps her hands over her mouth. Breathing hard, she closes her eyes.

“Oh my god, are you okay?!”

“I can’t believe this.” She chokes out.

Adrien felt incredibly vulnerable. It hadn’t crossed his mind that he had to be careful about his identity. He knew Ladybug’s, and it was only fair she knew his. But as he sat next to a girl that was trying to hide into herself from the news he was suddenly reminded that maybe he should’ve anticipated her shock.

“I wasn’t expecting this reaction. Do you want me to get you some water?”

She reached out and grabbed his shoulder hard to keep him from standing.

“Please,” She whispered, “I just need a moment. Please sit with me, give me a second.”

Her eyebrows were scrunched together. Chat waited for her, the most he could do was hold her hand tight.

About a minute passed when, “Are you sure?”

Chat blinked. She didn’t seem to be in shock, just very confused.

“Am I sure I’m Adrien? I mean, yes.”

A pause and then --

“But I don’t get it?”

“Same happened to me when they said you were Marinette. I recommend you make a list.”

“Huh?”

“Like, if you write the similarities of Adrien and Chat.”

“Do you have any paper?”

“Nope.”

There was a pause.

“Do you think I should use Lucky Charm?”

“And tire out your kwami? I think you should go home and write it out. Say,” Adrien carefully continued, “do you think I could follow you back? If we go somewhere we could detransform it’d help me as well as you. To – you know-- understand everything.”

“Are you sure we should know each other’s identities?”

“I’d like to. I know it’s dangerous. But when I met up with Maka and Soul, they really made me feel guilty. We’re partners. I want to be able to take care of you, even outside of our suits. But if one of us is injured and we’re not willing to share who we are, we’ll be in deep shit.”

“I can’t believe Adrien just said that.”

“Come on Bug, I’m not all that proper.”

“Well I know that, you mangy kitty.”

“I’m a very clean cat!”

“And I thought most cats hated water. Alright Chat, let’s find a place to detransform. But its late, my parents are asleep, and if you step one foot out of line-!”

“I’ll be on my best behavior!”

 

He followed her across Paris until they reached her house, which he’d been in just earlier that night. They arrived on the rooftop patio, and Ladybug only paused for a second before opening the latch down to her bedroom. The room was dark, and all Adrien could see of Ladybug’s transformation was a glowing red light. He followed suit, and she turned on the lights just as the last of the sparkles disappeared.

Marinette and Adrien stand across each other, staring.

Plagg zooms out, “Ehh Tikki, where are you?”

“Plagg!” A bright red something flies from behind Marinette. The two kwami’s embrace in midair between the two awkward heroes.

Adrien grinned. He was feeling relieved, Ladybug was Marinette and they were both great and now his two friends are his own one single amazing friend.

Marinette still wasn’t smiling though.

“Isn’t this great though!?” Adrien walked up to her and put his arm over her shoulder, how he usually did as Chat. Sadly she didn’t respond as usual, but instead blushed before hiding her face behind her hands.

“Come on Mari! Oh god, can you believe we’d called each other Ladybug and Chat Noir here without knowing each other’s identities? We were made for each other!”

Marinette ducked under his arm and sat at her chaise, giving him the signal to wait a second.

Adrien was bouncing in place, excitement lit his expression.

“All right!” Marinette slapped herself in the face.

“My Lady!” Adrien reprimanded.

She smiled up at him, red marks on her face.

“I’m okay now, mon minou. You know, we should hangout more often now!”

“Of course! That goes without saying Buginette.”

“Oh god Adrien, don’t you dare call me that in public.”

“So it’s fine if it’s in private?” Adrien let one eyebrow raise suggestively.

“In what world could calling a girl ‘Buginette’ be suggestive??”

“This wonderful world Bugaboo!”

“You are such a dork.”

“I’m your dork.”

“Oh my god.”

They were both smiling at each other. Adrien was so happy. Incredibly so. Marinette wasn’t disappointed in him being Chat, which he’d been worried about because her initial reaction could have been in disgust to him. All she’d needed was time to understand it all. And sure she was acting as if she was super chill with everything now, but Adrien was going to be more careful and not assume.

And they were now teasing each other like usual! He learned something really important about his two friends today. He’d guard her secrets and promised himself to protect her.

Suddenly Mari squealed and stuffed her face in a pillow. Adrien tried not to laugh at her.

“Maribug, you okay there?”

She peeked red-faced over the pink pillow.

“I’ll be fine.” She squeaked out.

 

He didn't want to embarrass her, so he looked around the room instead of at her. Lots of pink. He'd sat here just hours ago, and now everything seemed shifted. The good. And the bad. The bad, he'd forgotten about it. In the realization of their identities, they had completely disregarded a glaring fact. They only had their reveal because both Maka and Soul now know them. Master Fu was the only person to know before, and he had a miraculous too and was only helpful. The meister weapon couple were dangerous, and unknown.

He'd found out a bit more about them now, their Soul Perception, Soul Resonance. But what were their morals? What did they stand for? He'd been on the defense during the interrogation and wasn't given the chance to find out if their were bad people.

"Marinette," He started, and she blinked. He realized she'd been staring at his face, and tried to keep his cool and stay on topic, "Do you think Maka and Soul are bad people?"

"I do, it's a combination of my intuition and what we've seen so far. But Tikki wouldn't help me."

"Plagg had almost complimented them, saying 'Maka can see the matter' or something along those lines."

"The matter?"

"Of mind over matter?"

"Oh right, okay."

"Ya so, "Adrien continued. "If they're bad people, I don't know what to do about them. What can we do? Throw them in jail, for attacking Natalie?"

"They don't seem like the type of people who go to jail. Not like they don't deserve it, that they have enough power or money or something to get out of it."

"That description makes it really sound like they're bad people."

"Maybe I'm biased."

"I trust your judgement though. What will we do?"

There was a pause.

"We're going to protect people. I don't know how we can attack them or stop them, but at all costs I'm going to make sure that if they're violent, I'll get everyone out safely." She said.

"We'll get everyone out safely."

She smiled at him, kind and determined. "Yes."

 

Adrien was laying in his bed, wrapped around his blankets. He couldn’t smother his smile. He felt like he was radiating from warmth and comfort. Being accepted by Ladybug, by Marinette, was everything. His wonderful friend.

He hadn’t wanted to leave, there was so much to talk about! But Marinette kicked him out about thirty minutes after they’d revealed themselves saying she didn’t want her parents to find out he was there.

While he’d felt no qualms about it at the time, he was now embarrassed at the thought of being alone with Mari in her room. This was the girl he loved!

He gave a little gasp to himself. He loved her. Absolutely. What was he going to do about that now?

He only felt excited and nervous.  He knew she wasn’t the type of person who’d cut him out of her life if he told her his feelings, as her and Nathanael were still good friends. He ignored a little spike of jealousy in his heart and focused on the matter at hand: would Marinette want him to confess to her?

He decided to wait until everything settled to answer that particular question, and tried to sleep. He thought of her blue eyes and small smile and sweet smell and dreams quietly took over.


	7. Miraculous Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update on my life!: Sophmore year of college just started :) I moved in and started classes. So far so good, although I feel like I'm always busy now.

Marinette smashed the snooze button for her alarm clock. She had about five more minutes of sleep left, and she really didn’t want to get up for school. There weren’t any tests that day anyway, so she wondered whether she could just skip. How many hours of sleep did she get? Six? Why had she stayed up so late?

_Oh right. It turns out Chat is Adrien. How the FUCK did fate decide to arrange that for me._

Marinette laid in the bed and her eyes were still closed. Sure, it was a huge deal. But it was the morning and she really didn’t want to deal with everything just yet.

The alarm sounded again. Groaning, she turned it off and got out of bed. After finishing her morning routine, she went downstairs and ate the toast and tea her mom set out. Everything flitted through her mind again, and her head fell on the counter (she ignored the sounds of falling objects her head had pushed off).

She was so bad at acting natural, why had everything become so complicated? First she had to make it seem like she wasn’t in love with Adrien (which according to Alya she was shit at already), second she had to pretend Adrien wasn’t Chat (her best friend), and third she couldn’t let anyone find out she was Ladybug (except for Adrien).

She let out a groan to let out some stress. Opening her eyes, she realized she’d spilled her tea and hurried to clean it up with a rag.

 

Marinette walked to school as usual. Once she was right at the entrance, she saw Adrien’s car drive up. Her hand came up as if to wave, but she paused halfway. Blushing furiously, she made her way into the school without saying hello. After all, they typically didn’t hang out in school. Sure Alya and Nino brought them together frequently enough, but in school they had their own groups of people.

She sat in her Art Studio class next to Nathanael. While chatting about their weekend, Marinette felt a buzz in her backpack. Careful to conceal Tikki, she checked her phone.

**Monday at 4/24/15 7:15**

_Hey! Let’s go to lunch together before French!_

Oh! Are you sure? Will we sit with your friends then?

_That won’t be fair to you and your friends, let’s just sit together!_

Okay. See you then!

_(^=˃_ _ᆺ_ _˂=^)_

Marinette snorted at the face Adrien sent her. _I guess I’ll be seeing him around today. Next time I see him in the car, I’ll definitely wave!_

 

Marinette sat on a bench in the corner of the courtyard. She’d told Alya that she’d be sitting elsewhere that day, not mentioning that it was going to be with Adrien. It was dangerous, because if Alya noticed them she’d definitely make a big deal about it.

_I mean it IS a big deal. But I don’t want her spying on us from the very start._

She had a small packed lunch and she knew Adrien also brought his lunch, but it was usually takeout from nice restaurants from around that Paris area.

She sat with her packed lunch, and kept an eye out for Adrien. She didn’t feel embarrassed about jumping out of her seat every time she saw someone who looked like Adrien. Eventually she spotted the real deal, poking his head out of the cafeteria and looking around. Marinette waved enthusiastically and he noticed, making his way towards her with a huge grin on his face.

When he sat with her, he was much closer than Marinette had expected. And she had expected him to sit on the very opposite side of the bench. _Stupid, he’s Chat. It’s a surprise he’s not sitting in my lap right now._

“Sleep well Buginette?”

“Yes, no thanks to you.”

“What do you mean? Didn’t stay up thinking of me?”

“Maybe in your dreams!”

“You’re right! It was such a cool dream too. We were the superhero duo, but then the Akuma was a rubber duck. And it did nothing! I ended up poking a hole in it, and it deflated really anticlimactically.”

Marinette stared at Adrien incredulously.

“You’re such a dork! Why are your dreams so weird?”

Adrien blushed slightly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She started unpacking her lunch, and glanced down at his.

“Oh wow, the Aurora Bistro. Looks delicious.”

“Want to share? Your food looks great too, you know how much I love your parents cooking.”

They shared their lunches, sitting side by side their thighs touching. They avoided any topics specifically Ladybug or Chat Noire related, but the mannerisms and little tidbits slipped into their speech anyway. When they were done (they jumped suddenly when the bell rang), they both made their way to French, looking sadly at each other when they had to sit at opposite sides of the room.

That didn’t stop Marinette from glancing at him constantly.

The rest of the day went slowly compared to the moments she’d spent with Adrien.

 

Alya was waiting for her outside the school’s main entrance. They usually waited for each other and then hung out for a bit before heading home. But today, from the look on Alya’s face, it looked like she’d keep her hostage forever. Or at least until Marinette answered all her questions.

Alya wasn’t even looking at her phone. Instead, with one hand on her hip, her foot tapped impatiently on the sidewalk. When they made eye contact, Alya enthusiastically gestured for her to _hurry up_.

Marinette’s nervous grimace didn’t placate Alya.  When she began to start pushing her way through the crowd towards her, Mari quickened her pace.

“Hey girl, we have got a lot to talk about. What was that at lunch, you guys having a date or something?” Alya took hold of Marinette’s wrist, as if to make sure she didn’t run away.

“Haha oh Alya, can’t two friends just catch up with each other without any of that stuff?”

“Sure, but you could have done it with the rest of your friends! Or his friends. Instead you guys find a secluded corner and then don’t even tell you best friend about any of it!”

“It just turned out that way! Come on, let’s get out of the way of everyone coming out,” People were streaming out of the main entrance, pushing into them, “we can go hang out. Besides, wasn’t there some really interesting stuff you posted on the Ladyblog recently?”

“Do not try to change the subject missy!” Alya kept hold of Mari’s wrist but did pull her out of the way of the crowd. They made their way towards Alya’s house, waiting at a bus stop.

“So you guys are becoming closer friends now? Or is it romantic?” Alya continued.

“I don’t think Adrien has any interest in me in that way,” _not the way Chat does anyway._

Marinette froze. Did she really just think that? She totally did. But if Chat liked her, and she was pretty positive he did, then wouldn’t that mean Adrien liked her too?

“You know what, Alya? It’s just really complicated. Really really complicated! So complicated I probably need to make a flowchart out of just so _I_ can understand it.”

“Oh ho what is this I hear? It’s complicated definitely means there are some type of romantic feelings involved, no?”

At this moment, Adrien’s limo passed by the bus stop. He opened the window and waved enthusiastically. They both waved back, Marinette wishing she could just close her eyes to avoid the overall embarrassment of being interrogated by Alya.

“I don’t know Alya. Give me some time to figure it out, k?”

Alya crossed her arms, giving her a skeptical look.

“Sure Mari. Just know I’m here for you, if you need any advice or help or someone to slap him into understanding.”

“Thanks. And don’t go slapping anyone.”

“I make no promises!” They got on the bus and found two empty seats.

“What’s new with you Alya? Ladyblog getting a bunch of hits?”

“You bet! I wanna wait until we get to my place, so I can blow up the images and show you were I get all my theories. But basically, there are two new super heroes on the block.”

“Really?” Marinette set her face into a decent surprised expression.

“Yep! There was an Akuma called Arachne, and according to police records and security cameras there are two others fighting it along with Chat and Ladybug.”

“Do they have the same powers?”

“Not at all! I don’t know if you’ll believe it without seeing it, but one of them turns into a scythe! A scythe is like what the grim reaper has.”

“A person turns into a weapon?”

“Yes! It’s unbelievable, I know. Just wait until I show you the videos.”

“So you think they’re good guys?”

“I mean, I’ve been more careful about that kind of stuff since Volpina, so I’m not 100% sure. It looks as if they’re on our side though, the good side.”

“Huh.”

The bus breaks suddenly, and Marinette holds tightly onto a pole to straighten herself out. She glances up, but doesn’t see anything blocking the bus. Then she hears footsteps on top of the bus and a loud creak.

“Everybody out!” She yells, and grabs Alya as she thrusts an emergency exit window out of the way and carefully jumps down. Turning around, she catches her by the waist when Alya jumps after her.

On top of the bus stood two figures. One of them was an unsteady man. He seemed to be blown up, and it was as if there was something sloshing around within him, which looked really unnerving and not human. With his red nose and unfocused eyes, he looked like a drunkard. One who was currently laughing, the large pitchers in his hands overflowing with liquid which burned the bus underneath it like acid.

The second figure was Maka with Soul in her hands. They met eyes, and she rolled her eyes.

“If only Ladybug was here.” She yelled directly at Marinette.

Mari blushed furiously, and tried to drag Alya with her. But she was already videotaping the Akuma and wouldn’t budge.

Staring at Maka, she saw that it wasn't the same Maka she'd seen with Arachne or the kishins. Instead of confidently slashing, bashing, and possibly killing, she was doing her best to keep the drunkards attention. Mari observed him, and decided that he must be an Akuma. His suit was extravagant and he looked much too happy to be one of Maka's usual opponents. And Maka didn't really attack him either. She kept a defensive stance, keeping up with him easily enough but not taking any aggressive action.

Trusting her instinct, she left Alya under Maka’s care, and Marinette ran around the corner to transform. In the distance she could hear the creepy laugh of the drunkard Akuma.

*Cue magical girl poses, being showered with unearthly lights; bugs fly out of everywhere and twinkle like stars*

Running back to the scene, Maka was still on the defense. Although earlier her scythe had cut right through Arachne without hurting her, it seemed that Maka’s Soul was now working as a regular weapon. Maybe it’s because they were toning down on the witchcraft. Meistercraft? She pondered the right word, but tried to pay attention to the matter at hand before she got too distracted.

The Akuma, which was calling itself Monsieur Insouciant (Mr. Happy-go-lucky), was distracted by the attacks and was using his beer pitchers to both defend and attack. He sloshed around happily, reminding her of the Kool-Aid Man. Ladybug found herself searching for any week points, anything that could hold the butterfly. Maybe the pitchers? But seeing as he was using them as physical weapons it would be too dangerous to break.

On top of the man’s engorged belly was an ID, one with a picture. It caught Ladybug’s attention, and she wondered whether it could be it. _Just how do I get it?_

She had an idea, but it disgusted her. Plus, she’d need Chat to get it done, wouldn’t she?

Staring fixedly at the fight, she noticed how Soul cracked one of the pitchers. Grimacing, she decided to give it a shot.

“Maka!” The fighter was still concentrating on attacking, but Ladybug was sure she could hear her. “Try a shallow cut at the body! Just be careful, something acidic might come out!”

At her words, Maka was able to quickly stab at the man’s waist line, and a small stream of acidic liquor poured out, burning the asphalt.

“Great! Maybe puncture two more small cuts!” Ladybug called out.

Maka did it in quick succession, flying out of the way of the stream every time it got too close.

Monsiuer Insouciant seemed to deflate. His body was no longer filled with bubbly liquid, and the flabby parts that were left over got in his way. He started moving slower, getting trapped under the weight of his own body. He desperately tried to drink out of his pitchers, but everything continued to just pour out.

He was preoccupied and slow enough that Ladybug easily yoyoed his ID, the string around his neck ripping apart. Ripping the ID, a butterfly flew out.

“Miraculous Ladybug! Bye bye, petit Papillion.”

In the place of Monsieur Insouciant was a business man. He looked around wildly.

“What, what happened? I just remember being really angry after work, wanting to get a drink to calm down. But I quit drinking! I swear, but I can’t remember what happened!”

Ladybug went over to him, gave him a helping hand. She sent him on his way home.

Ladybug turned towards Maka, who was inspecting Soul in scythe form. After yelling ‘miraculous ladybug’ everything that was damaged by the toxic drink was gone, but it seemed that Soul’s form hadn’t been damaged even during the fight. How curious. Everything, from asphalt to metal had been affected. But it wasn’t like what happened with Arachne, after all Soul was able to hurt the Akuma.

“Is Soul alright?” Ladybug addressed Maka.

“Yep! He did get a little tipsy during the fight. I can only guess that the toxic drink couldn’t harm his body but affected his mind in the way an actual drink would. You fixed it all already though!”

Maka dropped Soul, who transformed into his human form on the way down. He was scratching at the nape of his neck, his ears a bright red.

“Sorry about acting like an idiot Maka. That was uncool.”

“Don’t worry about it Soul! Not like we’ve ever fought anything like that before. I wonder if there’s any similar accounts of this type of magic though? We’re going to have to check the archives first thing when we’re back.” Soul gave her a look and she rolled her eyes, “alright, _I’ll_ have to check.”

“Umm,” Ladybug started, drawing their attention back to her, “So I heard from Chat. You actually do have mysterious and impossible soul seeing powers?”

Her tone was uncertain, hoping to hear that it was all just a joke. Maka gave her a warm look, and tried not to pity the super hero too much.

“Yes, I really do have that power.”

Ladybug nodded automatically, “Yes, yes I knew that.”

Her hands were crossed in front of her, and she felt the need to runaway again. But that fear was battling with the anxiety of not knowing enough about everything that was happening around her. She focused on the bus, unharmed and working. The bus driver waved happily at her, and she waved back. How nice.

She focused back on Maka, who was holding out a gloved hand to her and smiling.

“You don’t have to be afraid. It’s going to work out. That best thing we can do right now is to meet up, the four of us.”

Yesterday, she'd decided to to everything in her power to protect people from this girl. And she'd just collaborated with her.

She took her hand. This sounded like a horrible idea. But it wasn’t like she had any idea what to do now anyway.

Now all they had to do was find that lazy cat who hadn’t even turned up to the fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky isn't the typical Akuma, but I think it's appropriate. I was inspired by Le Petite Prince, and the bridge between the kids book and a kids cartoon world didn't seem like too big of a jump.


	8. Miraculous Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay if you can't stand crack fiction, not even a little, don't read. It's not bad, but I can't say this is the most serious chapter. It's also the last one of this specific story! (any other updates to this story are me fixing the previous chapters or tags!)

Life was great. It was good. Meownificant? Purrfect.

Adrien had not only gone to school with Ladybug today. Oh no. He’d greeted her in the morning, had lunch with her, and spent an entire English class gazing in her direction. She was so great. Of course, Marinette was just fantastic! But he hadn’t known that his massive crush of the last, who knows, like four years? was the friend he’d cherished for the same amount of time. Another plus was that the shyness he distinctly remembered of Mari was gone. Over the years she had definitely warmed up to him, but overnight after the big reveal she seemed to be completely relaxed around him.

Now, instead of paying attention to where the Gorilla was driving him, he stared out at the passing view. Everything was beautiful, because Marinette was beautiful and she was alive in this very same city with him, in that exact moment!

When he was shuffled out of the car towards his after-school Chinese lesson, he paused and turned his head sharply towards the left. He’d seen a glimpse of familiar looking hair, it was possible that it was…!

He laughed quietly to himself when he looked at the girl walking hand in hand with someone who was probably her lover. She didn’t look anything like Marinette really. But the idea that she was here had made his heart thump excitedly.

Adrien studied diligently in class. He kept having daydreams of meeting Mari’s mother, how he’d impress her by speaking Mandarin. By the end of class he had a perfect dialogue set up: he’d introduce himself and compliment her. Gush compliments about Mari. Ask for her hand in marriage, just stuff like that. The only problem was that the class was covering the best way to discuss stocks in Mandarin. Adrien didn’t have a clue how to talk about the predictive price of the gold market. But more importantly, for him at least, was that he could compliment Mari’s mother on how well she’d brought up her child to be such a fantastic person.

At the end of class he folded the dialogue and stashed it away into his pocket. He was following everyone out of the class, and again he glimpsed a familiar looking figure. Not able to help himself, his head sharply turned and it was…!

Oh wow. It actually was Marinette. His heart skipped a beat and thumped quickly.

“Mari! What are you doing here? I didn’t know you were taking Chinese lessons.”

“Hey Adrien! No, I’m not. I’m here for you actually.” Her smile was so bright and Adrien returned it.

“I’m all yours Princess!” Marinette’s eyes were about to roll, but she seemed to stop herself.

“Just come with me, you silly cat.”

 

Mari lead him to a park, a little out of the way. There was a basketball court right next to them, and he noticed two people sitting on a park bench close to it, holding a ball.

He was very curious as to what his Lady was planning, but the only clue he had was watching her eyes meet his every couple of minutes despite how she was walking in front of him. She always spluttered when her eyes met his but that didn’t stop her from doing the same thing a minute later. It was so curious!

She led him to the two people and he inspected them. A girl, no wait, it’s the girl. Maka. She wasn’t wearing the uniform he’d seen her in. Instead she was wearing pants and a t-shirt, a basketball cap covering a bit of her face. Soul looked the same, but he’d taken off his jacket.

Adrien gave Mari a questioning look.

“I only agreed to meet with her as civilians if she wore a disguise. Soul’s mostly seen in his scythe form so it should be okay. As long as they don’t burst out and start attacking something, people won’t know who they are.”

“Ah right.”

He continued to stare at her, his eyebrows furrowed together.

“We all thought that we should talk. Figure everything out, so to say. After that Akuma battle, I wanted to get to know them better anyway.”

“After Arachne?”

“Ah no, after Monsieur Insouciant.”

“When did that happen?”

“About an hour ago?”

“Marinette!” He sounded agitated and his voice was louder than he expected. Lowering it down just a tad he continued, “I wish you’d call me. I know, sometimes there’s not a lot of time, and I’m not the one who catches the Akuma. But if we stick together, we’ll be safer and healthier. Plus you could’ve called me on my regular cell now.”

“I know that Chat. But I’d just seen you going the opposite direction, and with Maka and Soul there we had it under control.”

Adrien looked between her and the two, looking for any conspiring glances. He didn’t see any, but was ruffled all the same. Glancing reproachfully at Mari, he had a spike of want to hug her, and hold her next to him as they continued talking. There was nothing wrong with them helping his Lady. But he wanted to keep her safe too. Wasn’t he the one who cared the most about her, would keep her the safest?

She went to sit across the two and he joined her. Following his impulse, he grabbed her hand under the table. She jumped and glanced over to him, but he refused to make eye contact. Waiting for her to take her hand back, he was shocked when she just squeezed his hand and kept them interlaced. Suddenly his mood changed from jealous to content.

“So tell me about it, I guess.”

Maka replied, “The Akuma called himself Monsiuer Insouciant. Soul and I found him disrupting a work environment, with what then looked like regular beer pitchers. The moment we starting fighting him, we realized the pitchers weren’t normal, but could actually burn anything. Like straight acid. He didn’t seem like a kishin, so we knew that our regular moves wouldn’t work. I sought out Ladybug, using Soul perception, and followed her lead.”

“Yep,” Mari continued, “It was really strange, but we could puncture his body somewhat? And all this acid came out. Soul and Maka were in charge of that. When the Akuma was preoccupied I could snatch his ID and purify the butterfly within.”

“Sounds serious,” Adrien replied, his eyebrows raised. “No one was hurt though?”

“Soul got a bit tipsy, but he’s all good now.” Maka jabbed her elbow in his rib, and Soul gave it a reproachful rub.

“When you say tipsy, does that mean he thinks and stuff while in scythe form?” Marinette carefully inquired.

“Well he doesn’t think too much in general, but yep!”

“Maka! I get tipsy once on the job, not even by my own power. Let it go.” Soul nuggied her head.

“Alright Soul! Let _me_ go!”

Adrien shouted at Marinette through the telepathic connection that they didn’t actually have, _What position are we taking? Are we with them now? Are they still dangerous?  
_

Sadly it didn’t look like she got the message, as she was just trying to hide her giggles from Soul and Maka by covering her mouth with her hand. Sadly that meant that she’d let go of Adrien’s hand, but she looked cute and he didn’t mind.

“So how long have you two been together?” Adrien asked, trying to draw attention from Marinette who was still laughing.

“Nope, not answering that just yet! We’ve both got so many questions to ask each other, and we both deserve a mental break anyway, so we’re gonna battle it out.”

“Like… we’re going to fight each other?”

Soul held up the basketball and pointed at it.

“Ohhh. Okay.”

“Hold on a second,” Mari said. “I almost never play. We’ll be at a disadvantage.”

“As long as you don’t go scoring for the opposite team,” at this Soul gave a sly look at Maka, “I’m sure you’ll be just fine.”

Adrien was excited to play. To be honest he hadn’t played in many actual matches, but he had spent hours in his room shooting hoops. The one time he played one-on-one against Nino had been really fun and an important memory. He noticed everyone stretching out around him and hastened to do the same.

The point of the game was to score a point. The team that scored got to ask a question and get an answer before they began another round.

Maka was on defense and Soul on offense, while Adrien was on defense and Mari on offense. He wasn’t sure how fair that was and at the beginning was worried about the mismatch. And it wasn’t because she was a girl, she had after all just admitted to her inexperience.

He didn’t have to worry though. Marinette was quicker than Soul, although he was more experienced. She’d grab the ball and send it back to him, where he could throw out three point shots. Although he thought they were good shots, Maka was a great jumper and was able to block most of the shots. From there, she’d send it to Soul who could receive even the farthest passes.

Soul was the first to get a shot in, and he grinned a smile showing pointed teeth. He was the only one breathing hard, Adrien himself just feeling warmed up and ready to go.

“Alright, my question is this: where’d you learn to make those shots Adrien? They are on-point.” Soul said when he caught some of his breathe.

“Soul!” Maka hissed, “That’s not what you were supposed to ask!”

“Don’t worry about it Maka.” He waved back to appease her, then put his hands on his hips when he faced her, “We’ll just have to play and win a couple extra times. No big deal.”

She humph’d, and murmured how this wasn’t recess. Soul turned back to Adrien his eyebrow lifted. He quickly realized that Soul wanted him to seriously answer, and a grin broke out.

“I’ve actually got a hoop in my room. Makes it easy to get some practice in.”

“Sounds nice. Actually, maybe you could show me it sometime? Maybe something like it could fit in our tiny apartment.”

“I get to ask the next question!” Maka called out, choosing not to comment on whether a hoop would actually be a good idea in the apartment.

Mari got the next point in. She threw her hands in the air and jumped up and down from joy, running back to Adrien to give him a high five. Their hands clasped for a moment longer than Adrien expected, but he tried not to think about it too hard. He motioned to Mari for her to ask a question. She contemplated for a little and then asked,

“You guys live together? For how long? Are you two in a relationship?”

“We’re not in romantic relationship, if you’re asking that. But as I think you’ve noticed by now we’re meister and weapon. We’ve been partners since we’ve met, which is about eight years ago. And we’ve lived together for about six and a half years.” Maka said.

They sure seemed to flirt a lot for someone not in a romantic relationship.

The next game he managed to get a three pointer in, while Mari distracted Maka from blocking it.

“Where do you get the power to do all that stuff? We use our Miraculous’, what about you?”

Maka, again, answered, “Our souls are different, special if you will. Weapons have the innate ability to transform because their souls are built that way. Meisters have the ability to connect with multiple souls. However, everyone’s different so some people can have multiple ways of showing their abilities.”

“Can our souls do that?” he asked, assuming the answer was going to be no but still hopeful.

“No.”

“Damn.”

The next point is scored by Soul. Maka starts asking the question right after, as if to make sure he didn’t try to sneak one in. “How many enemies do you have? How often do you fight them? What do the enemies do?”

“That’s more than one! That’s like, three!” Mari argued. Soul dribbled the ball as Adrien replied, “We’ve got one big enemy, called Hawkmoth. He makes many little enemies called Akuma. He’s a miraculous wielder too, and so far we think his power is to make the little enemies, people to fight for him. They feed off their inner anger or frustration, so it’s always different. And I’m not sure, maybe twice a week?”

“Twice a week.” Marinette confirmed.

Soul asked for a minute break, and laid down on the ground. Maka went up to Marinette and exchanged numbers. They were both breathing hard and laughing. Adrien noticed how Soul looked brighter and smiled without care every time Maka laughed, and he himself admired Marinette. She’d worn dark high waisted-pants and a short pink shirt that let out a peak of her stomach when she went for shots. It was fashionable, she looked ready for a photo shoot. He grinned mischievously, and took out his phone.

He only got a couple shots of the two girls laughing with a passed out Soul before they noticed, but it was enough. He now understood why the two strangers wanted to meet with them here. It destressed them, put their minds onto other things. It tricked them into lowering their guard, which was working by the way Mari and Maka were now taking selfies with him in the background.

Although he was wary of how carefree they were now, he also didn’t worry too much about it. He knew that Soul and Maka were here to learn more about them and go back to their boss to describe it, but they didn’t have anything to hide. Worst case scenario, their boss the Shinigami, the Death God (at least according to them, it was hard to believe), thought they were a threat of some kind and sent Maka and Soul to kill them. It really was the worst case scenario, because they knew their civilian identities. If they came after them, it would be a hundred times worse and more difficult to deal with than with Hawkmoth.

Best case scenario, they figured out how to defeat Hawkmoth.

Most likely scenario, they were gonna do nothing. He and Mari had things covered here, and they were good people. Mari was an absolute charm, anyway. Maka and Soul would go back to Nevada and they might never see them again. Looking at how well Mari got along with them though, he thought she might even make a trip to visit them. They’d never been to America before.

Adrien blushed, thinking about going on a trip abroad with his Lady. He hurriedly put his phone away and joined the conversation.

“And that’s what you do if you accidentally send someone a text!” Maka explained, and Marinette seemed to hang on to her every word.

“That’s amazing! You won’t believe the lengths I’ve gone through to save myself in the past.” At this he made eye contact with Mari, but she quickly avoided his gaze. She grabbed both of Maka’s hands and thanked her repeatedly.

“So how long are you guys in France? Want a tour of Paris?”

“Too late for that now. Our plane is tonight.” Soul replied. Adrien had expected them to stay longer.

“Yep, today’s the last time we’ll see you guys. By the way, can I have your number Adrien? Just to keep in touch, or if you guys need any help with Hawkmoth.” He gave her his phone, and she gave him hers. He considered putting in his name as Chat Noir, but decided it would be better to leave it as Adrien.

Maka seemed to debate to herself for a second, then spoke, "You might see other meister/weapon partners in the area. Our God is going to pay special attention to Hawkmoth and you guys, but he isn't too concerned. He even said that there were records of previous miraculous holders."

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a knowing look,  remembering the Pharaoh Akuma. 

They continued playing basketball for about another hour, although the questions they asked now were more silly. It was super embarrassing to describe the time a fellow model had actually complained that he smelled too strongly, and how he didn’t have any excuse except for the surplus of cheese he’d had to carry for Plagg.

He was very interested when Marinette described her ideal type of guy, which she described as kind, smart, and thoughtful. He jumped in to say that she loved a man who could pun really well, at which she’d placed her hand on his face to shut him up.

By the end of it, it wasn’t just Soul gasping for breath. Everyone was tired, and their breath made little puffs of warm air in the chilling April afternoon.

Marinette invited the two over to her place for a warm drink, but they declined, saying they had to get going.

Soul grasped his hand, telling him he was ‘pretty cool’ and Maka gave him a high five before they went their different ways. Adrien decided to go with Mari to her place, get some food and warm up.

 

Tired and happy, Adrien put his arm over her shoulders and led the way. He was talking belatedly of a score she’d made, but quickly noticed that Mari had suddenly gone quiet.

Looking down to check her expression, she was bright faced. There were sweat drops gathering on her forehead and she was looking up at him. Her eyes were really beautiful, framed with dark lashes. His Lady was incredible.

He suddenly felt tongue tied and moved back from her. He couldn’t look her in the eyes, although his eyes kept being drawn to her lips without his permission. He’d just noticed that he smelled a trace of baked goods and new linens on her and wondered how on Earth he hadn’t seen Marinette as his Ladybug earlier.

“This was fun,” Mari said, breaking him out of his thoughts, “we should do it again. Maybe not with Maka and Soul, but invite Alya and Nino.”

“You’re right, it was fun! I had a great time.” He paused, and realized, “You know it’ll take us 30 minutes to walk to your house. Wanna transform?”

“Oh sorry, but Tikki’s a bit tired right now. She’s sleeping in my purse after eating a whole bunch of cookies.”

“I can transform and carry you!”

“You sure could you cat, but how would I explain that to Alya? She’d find out somehow and start badgering me for an interview with you.”

“I’ll give her an interview, no problem!”

“What’s gonna be your excuse for carrying me then?”

“Well you were so cute and heading home, so I couldn’t help but offer you a ride.”

“Oh my god Chat, you are not a ride, you’re a person.”

“You know what I mean. I mean, it wasn’t anything inappropriate.” He got red in the face, “I just meant, I’d take you home by running and stuff.”

She scoffed, “and stuff.”

“Whatever, I didn’t mean anything by it. Sorry.” He felt so incredibly embarrassed. He’d shouldn’t have even offered to, it’s just his inner Chat came out and he hadn’t thought she’d be so against it.

He heard her sigh, and then felt her arms around his neck. He looked at her, startled.

“I’m tired from basketball, might as well relax.” With that, she lifted her legs and he automatically caught her. He was still staring at her blankly, but smiled happily when he realized what she was doing.

Glancing around the park to see it empty, he called out “Claws out!” And Plagg zipped out of his bag.

*He can’t do a magical girl dance cause he’s holding a magical girl, but there were still plenty of sparkles and lights as his outfit changed*

He easily got to her house in under ten minutes, and he detransformed in an alley. Marinette jumped down to her feet while he murmured that he could still carry her even as a civilian but she ignored him.

Walking into the bakery he paused when he say Mari’s mom. Suddenly remembering the note in his pocket, the one he wrote in Chinese class asking for Marinette’s hand in marriage, he thrusted his hand in the pocket to make sure it was still there. Sighing in relief, he made sure there was no possible way for it to fall out of his pocket.

Imagine the expression on Mari’s face if her mom was the one to tell her Adrien was going to propose. They hadn’t even dated yet!

He’d have to find the perfect time to ask her out. Maybe make speech filled with cat puns, or at a Jagged Stone concert.

And that’s when it hit him. The perfect way to ask her out, was standing on stage with Jagged Stone, reciting a poem made up of cat puns. Purrfect!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could have added a bit more Soul Eater at the end, like include the talk with Kid, but I was ready to wrap up this story! I might include two one-shots focusing on how each individual relationship progressed after this story, but overall the plot is done! Thank you for reading :D


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